Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California
newsletter. It’s
Wednesday, Sept. 9, and I’m writing from Los Angeles.
“I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday, as 25 major fires raged across California and a red flag warning for critical fire weather remained in place over much of the state.
“You may not believe it intellectually,” the governor continued, raising a finger to his temple. “But your own eyes, your own experiences, tell a different story.”
The worst of California’s fire season usually doesn’t hit until October. But here we are in early September, with more than 2.3 million acres already scorched statewide. That number marks a new record — not just for acreage burned across the state by this point in the year, but for the entirety of any modern recorded fire season.
The state is facing what the governor referred to as “unprecedented confluence of issues.” Over the past month, we’ve seen a heat dome that impacted the entire West Coast, roughly
12,000 lightning strikes over a 72-hour period and some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in L.A. County. We’re also dealing with millions of dead trees — 150 million, the governor estimated — victims of years of drought.
Tuesday brought some relief from the crushing heat, but the wildfires kept raging.
As my colleagues report, this year’s fire season could get much worse in the coming days as powerful winds heighten the danger of more blazes while firefighters continue to struggle across the state.
In Southern California, Santa Ana winds were expected to build up throughout Tuesday night, potentially pushing three major fires towards towns and suburbs: the Bobcat fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains above Monrovia, the El Dorado fire near Yucaipa and the Valley fire in San Diego County near the Mexican border. In Northern California,
strong Diablo winds were expected to fan flames.
(Here are quick primers on Southern California’s
Santa Ana winds and Northern California’s similar
Diablo winds. Both are sometimes referred to as
“devil winds”for their effect, though the Diablo winds actually take their name from Mt. Diablo in the Bay Area.)
And the Creek fire in the Sierra Nevada has quickly become one of the largest wildfires in the state this year. It had burned at least 162,833 acres as of Tuesday night and was 0% contained.
What else you need to know
If you live in California and are lucky enough to be outside the risk zones for any of the current fires, there’s a good chance you’re still dealing with air quality issues and falling ash. It’s important to know that wildfire ash may contain toxic chemicals and protect yourself accordingly.
As my colleague
Deborah Netburn explained in a recent story, you should avoid skin contact with wildfire ash. Do not clean up ash yourself if you have lung or heart problems, and never use leaf blowers to blast it away. The South Coast Air Quality Management District recommends cleaning ash with damp cloths, or if it’s on your car, visiting a car wash.
More on the fires:
- The Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest keeps growing, and winds could push it into Monrovia, Arcadia and other foothill communities. Los Angeles Times
- By Tuesday afternoon, California National Guard helicopter crews had rescued a total of 373 people from the flames of the Creek fire. The blaze grew to more than 100,000 acres over the Labor Day weekend and left hikers, campers and others stranded in remote locations of the Sierra Nevada with no apparent way out. Los Angeles Times
- Power shut-offs, fires and heat have fueled a spike in Bay Area generator sales. In a now-annual practice, panicked customers flocked to purchase or repair generators as worries mounted around keeping fridges, medical equipment and other essentials running. San Francisco Chronicle
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