You’ve seen the footage. Red skies, neighborhoods turned to ash, and that eerie, suffocating orange haze that makes noon look like midnight. It happens every year, yet every time a new plume of smoke rises over the Sierras or the Santa Susana Mountains, the first question everyone asks is the same: what started fire in california this time?
The answer is rarely just one thing. It's a disaster cocktail.
Most people want a single villain. They want to point at a person with a match or a specific utility company. And while those are often the immediate triggers, the "why" is way deeper than just a spark. California has become a tinderbox where the margin for error has basically vanished. You’ve got aging infrastructure, a century of questionable forest management, and a climate that’s acting increasingly erratic.
The Spark: What Actually Ignites the Flame?
When we look at what started fire in california over the last decade, the data from CAL FIRE is pretty sobering. Humans cause about 90% of wildland fires. That’s a massive number. It’s not always malicious, though. Sometimes it’s just a guy mowing his lawn on a dry, windy day and hitting a rock. One spark. That’s all it takes.
Let’s talk about the big ones, because those are the ones that change history.
Utility Failures and the Power Grid
You can't talk about California fires without talking about Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). It’s the elephant in the room. The 2018 Camp Fire, which remains the deadliest in state history, was traced back to a nearly 100-year-old hook on a transmission tower. It snapped. The line hit the ground. Eighty-five people died because of a piece of hardware that should have been replaced decades ago.
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It’s a recurring theme. High winds—those infamous Santa Anas in the south and Diablos in the north—knock tree limbs into uninsulated power lines. Or they blow the lines into each other. If the grid isn't "hardened," or if the vegetation hasn't been cleared back far enough, you get an immediate ignition in the worst possible conditions. This is why "Public Safety Power Shutoffs" (PSPS) are now a thing. It’s annoying to lose your fridge full of food, but the utilities would rather you be in the dark than be responsible for burning down a county.
The Human Element: Arson and Accidents
Then you have the direct human causes. The 2024 Park Fire, which burned over 400,000 acres, was allegedly started by a man pushing a burning car into a gully. It sounds like a movie plot, but it’s real life. Arson is a terrifyingly common factor, but so is sheer negligence.
Remember the "Gender Reveal" fire? In 2020, the El Dorado Fire was sparked by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used at a party. It burned 22,000 acres. One person died. All for a bit of colored smoke.
- Target Shooting: Bullets hitting rocks can spark.
- Dragging Chains: Trailers with loose safety chains dragging on the highway.
- Campfires: Left unattended or not fully extinguished.
- Equipment Use: Using a chainsaw or weed whacker in dry grass after 10:00 AM.
Lightning: Nature’s Wild Card
While humans start most fires, nature starts the biggest ones. In August 2020, a "lightning siege" hit Northern California. We’re talking 11,000 strikes in 72 hours. Because the air was so dry, many of these were "dry lightning" strikes—bolts that hit the ground without any rain to put out the resulting embers. This created the LNU Lightning Complex and the SCU Lightning Complex, which eventually merged into massive "megafires." When nature decides to burn, there’s no stopping the initial ignition.
Why Does It Get So Bad? The "Litter" Problem
Okay, so a spark happens. In 1950, maybe that spark burns an acre and goes out. In 2026, that spark turns into a 100,000-acre monster in two days. Why?
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Honestly, we’ve been too good at our jobs. For over a century, the policy in the U.S. was "suppress everything." If a fire started, we put it out immediately. Sounds smart, right? Wrong. Forests need fire. It clears out the "fuel load"—the dead needles, fallen branches, and thick underbrush. By putting out every tiny fire for 100 years, we’ve allowed our forests to become unnaturally dense.
Dr. Scott Stephens, a fire scientist at UC Berkeley, has often pointed out that some California forests have ten times the tree density they had in the 1800s. It’s a literal pile of firewood waiting for a match. When a fire starts now, it doesn't just stay on the ground. It climbs these "ladder fuels" into the canopy and becomes a crown fire, which is nearly impossible to fight.
The Climate Reality: The "VPD" Factor
You’ll hear politicians argue about whether it’s "forest management" or "climate change." The truth is, it’s both. They feed on each other.
The term you should know is Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD). Essentially, it’s a measure of how "thirsty" the atmosphere is. As the air gets warmer, its capacity to hold moisture increases. It starts sucking moisture out of the plants and the soil. This turns living trees into "zombie" fuel. Even if we had a wet winter (like we did in 2023 and 2024), a few weeks of high VPD in July or August turns all that new green growth into dry straw.
We’re seeing longer fire seasons. It used to be a few months in the fall. Now, we’re seeing major fires in January. The "off-season" basically doesn't exist anymore.
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Misconceptions: What Most People Get Wrong
One of the biggest myths is that "raking the forest" would solve everything. While clearing floor debris is important near homes (defensible space), you can't rake millions of acres of rugged wilderness. It’s physically impossible.
Another misconception is that all fires are bad. Indigenous tribes in California used "cultural burning" for millennia to manage the land. They knew that frequent, low-intensity fires actually prevented the massive, catastrophic ones we see today. We are only just now, as a society, starting to listen to that wisdom and reintroduce prescribed burns.
How to Protect Your Property and Community
Understanding what started fire in california is the first step toward not being a victim of the next one. You can't control the lightning, and you can't control your neighbor's weed whacker, but you can control your immediate environment.
- Hardening the Home: Most homes burn because of embers, not the main wall of fire. Those tiny glowing coals fly miles ahead of the front and land in your gutters or under your deck. Replace wood shakes with metal or tile. Install fine mesh over attic vents so embers can't get sucked into your crawlspace.
- The 0-5 Foot Zone: This is the most critical area. Nothing combustible should be within five feet of your house. No mulch, no woody shrubs, no stacked firewood. Use gravel or pavers instead.
- Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP): Check if your town has one. If they don't, start one. Fires don't respect property lines; if your neighbor’s house is a fire hazard, your house is a fire hazard.
- The "Red Flag" Rule: When the National Weather Service issues a Red Flag Warning, stop all outdoor work. Don't mow. Don't weld. Don't even think about a fire pit. The humidity is low, the wind is high, and the state is on a hair-trigger.
- Evacuation Readiness: Don't wait for the "mandatory" order if you feel unsafe. Have your "Go Bag" ready by the door. Include physical copies of your insurance papers and photos of your home for claims later.
The reality of living in the Golden State now involves a constant negotiation with fire. We are learning, slowly and painfully, that we have to live with fire rather than just trying to beat it into submission. It’s about building smarter, managing the land with more nuance, and being hyper-aware of how a single spark on a windy Tuesday can change everything.
Actionable Steps for Residents
- Download the Watch Duty App: It’s often faster than official government alerts and uses real-time radio scanning to track new starts.
- Check Your Insurance: Many companies are pulling out of California. Ensure your policy is active and covers "Replacement Cost," not just market value.
- Create Defensible Space: Focus on the "Home Ignition Zone" first. Clear dead leaves from roof valleys and gutters immediately.
- Sign Up for Alerts: Ensure your cell phone is registered with your specific county’s emergency alert system (like CodeRED or Everbridge).