It felt like the end of the world. If you lived through the last few years in the Golden State, you know that specific, eerie orange glow. It’s a color that doesn't belong in nature. People in San Francisco woke up in 2020 to a sky so dark the streetlights stayed on at noon. In Paradise, the 2018 Camp Fire didn't just burn buildings; it erased a zip code in hours. But when people ask what happened with the fires in California, they’re usually looking for a simple answer—a cigarette butt, a lightning strike, or maybe "forest management."
The truth is messier. It's a collision of a century of bad policy, a drying climate, and the fact that we keep building homes where fires have naturally burned for thousands of years.
California’s fire history isn't a single event. It’s a trend line that looks like a jagged mountain range, and it’s heading up. Honestly, the scale is hard to wrap your head around. In 2020 alone, over 4.2 million acres burned. That is larger than the state of Connecticut. Think about that. An entire Eastern Seaboard state’s worth of land turned to ash in one season.
Why the Landscape Turned Into a Tinderbox
For a long time, the strategy was "put it out." Every fire. Immediately.
This sounded smart in 1920. If you see fire, you kill it. But forests are living systems that actually need fire to clear out the "ladder fuels"—the small shrubs and dead needles that pile up on the ground. By putting out every flame for 100 years, we basically gift-wrapped a giant pile of kindling for the future. Now, when a fire starts, it doesn't just stay on the ground. It climbs those "ladders" and reaches the crowns of the trees. Once a fire is in the canopy, it’s almost impossible to stop.
The Megafire Era
We started seeing "megafires," which are fires that burn more than 100,000 acres. Before 1970, these were rare. Now? They’re the seasonal norm.
Then you have the drought. California’s "Big Dry" lasted years, killing millions of trees. According to the U.S. Forest Service, over 172 million trees died in California forests between 2010 and 2020 due to drought and bark beetle infestations. Those aren't just trees anymore. They are standing matchsticks. When the wind picks up—specifically the Diablo winds in the north or the Santa Anas in the south—a small spark becomes a firestorm in minutes.
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The Utility Problem: PG&E and the Infrastructure Crisis
You can't talk about what happened with the fires in California without talking about PG&E. Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility, has been at the center of several catastrophic blazes.
The 2018 Camp Fire was started by a nearly 100-year-old hook on a transmission tower. It snapped. The line hit the ground. The town of Paradise was gone shortly after. This led to the company’s bankruptcy and a massive shift in how we get our power. Now, we have "Public Safety Power Shutoffs" (PSPS). Basically, if it’s too windy, the power gets killed to prevent a spark. It’s a primitive solution for a high-tech state, and it leaves millions of people sitting in the dark, wondering if their food will spoil or if they can charge their phones to get evacuation alerts.
It’s a catch-22. We need the power, but the grid is aging and the environment is getting more hostile. CAL FIRE investigators have pinned dozens of major fires on utility equipment. It’s not just PG&E, either; Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric have all faced massive lawsuits.
Where We Build Matters (The WUI Factor)
There is a term you should know: the Wildland-Urban Interface, or WUI.
It’s where the houses meet the brush. Because California has a massive housing shortage and sky-high prices, people have pushed further into the foothills. We are building neighborhoods in places that are supposed to burn ecologically.
- Over 11 million Californians live in the WUI.
- That’s one in four residents.
- Traditional home insurance is basically vanishing in these areas.
When a fire hits a suburb, it stops behaving like a "forest fire" and starts behaving like an "urban conflagration." Houses become the fuel. One house catches, the heat breaks the neighbor's window, and the curtains ignite. It’s a domino effect. The 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa proved that even "city" neighborhoods aren't safe if the wind is strong enough to carry embers over a six-lane highway.
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The Human Toll Nobody Likes to Discuss
We talk about acres and buildings. We don't talk enough about the lungs.
In 2020, the smoke was so thick it reached the East Coast. For people in the Central Valley, "Fire Season" is now a health season. Kids can't play outside. The elderly end up in the ER with respiratory distress. Research from Stanford University suggested that the smoke from the 2020 fires likely contributed to thousands of excess deaths among the vulnerable. It’s a slow-motion health crisis that lasts for months every year.
And the trauma? Ask anyone from Santa Cruz or Redding about the "Go Bag." Everyone has one now. It’s by the door. It has your passport, your birth certificate, and your photos. Living with the constant, low-grade anxiety that a shift in the wind could cost you everything is the new California reality.
What Is Being Done Right Now?
It's not all doom and gloom, though. The state is finally pivoting.
- Cultural Burning: We are finally listening to Indigenous tribes like the Yurok and Karuk. They’ve been using fire to manage the land for millennia. "Good fire" prevents "bad fire." The state is now fast-tracking permits for prescribed burns.
- Home Hardening: This is the new buzzword. It means swapping out wood shingles for tile, putting fine mesh over vents so embers can't get in, and clearing "defensible space" around the house. It works. Houses that are "hardened" have a much higher survival rate.
- Technology: CAL FIRE is now using AI-powered cameras to spot smoke plumes before a human even sees them. They have a massive fleet of "Firehawks"—S-70i helicopters that can drop water with incredible precision even at night.
The Reality Check
Is California still "on fire"? Yes and no. The state is always going to have fire. It’s part of the Mediterranean climate. But the era of total suppression is over. We are moving toward a model of "coexistence."
We’ve learned that we can't "fight" nature into submission. Instead, the focus is shifting toward making communities more resilient. This means tougher building codes and, frankly, some hard conversations about where we shouldn't be building at all.
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If you are looking at what happened with the fires in California as a warning, you're right. It’s a preview of what happens when climate, aging infrastructure, and urban sprawl hit a breaking point at the same time.
How to Protect Yourself and Your Property
If you live in a high-risk zone or are thinking about moving to one, you can't just hope for the best.
Audit your vents. Most houses burn from the inside out because embers get sucked into attic vents. Replace them with ember-resistant mesh. It’s a cheap fix that saves homes.
Clear the first five feet. This is the "Zero Zone." Remove any mulch, woody plants, or stored firewood directly touching your house. If an ember lands in a pile of dry bark next to your siding, your house is in trouble. Use gravel or pavers instead.
Download the right apps. Don't wait for a knock on the door. Get the Watch Duty app. It’s run by volunteers and often provides faster, more detailed info than official government channels during a fast-moving fire.
Review your insurance today. Don't wait for a fire to realize your "replacement cost" coverage hasn't been updated since 2015. Construction costs have skyrocketed. You might be underinsured by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Pack your Go Bag now. Don't be the person throwing random clothes in a suitcase while smoke fills your street. Have your "P's" ready: Papers, Prescriptions, Pictures, Pets, and Personal computer.
Living in California is beautiful, but it comes with a tax. That tax is vigilance. Understanding the history of these fires is the first step in making sure you aren't part of the next headline.