2008 california wildfires2008 california wildfires

July and August were particularly active, with no fewer than 34 large fires burning across the nation at the end of July. Below is a list of all fires that exceeded 1,000 acres (400ha) during the 2008 fire season. However, the majority of those fires are contained quickly and no information will . Unfortunately, unfavorable weather conditions across the Northwest U.S. contributed to an increase in wildfire activity in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana by the middle of the month. "[16], The Gap Fire near Goleta in Santa Barbara County burned 8,357 acres (3,382 hectares). [44] "[50] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties. The storm unleashed 25,000 to 26,000 dry lightning strikes across Northern and Central California, igniting more than 2,000 fires. The 2023 fire season follows the 2022 season, in which a below-average number of fires burned an also-below-average acreage, owing in part to weather patterns. 7. Image of the Day Spring 2008 for California was the driest on record for many locations; for example, San Francisco registered only 0.67 inches (17mm) of rain out of a normal of 5.18 inches (13cm) from March to May. [34] These near to record-breaking temperatures concerned many firefighters, who feared that the high heat, low humidity, and high-elevation winds could make firefighting more strenuous. The Basin and Indians Fires consumed a combined 244,000 acres (990 km2) and was the third largest fire in California history. Lake Berryessa recorded a high temperature of 126F (52C), prompting weather agencies like the National Weather Service to issue high fire danger warnings. Wildfires in California | CDC Forgot your username or password? Fire danger increased significantly through August in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, while improving across much of California, the southern U.S., the Dakotas and Minnesota, according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Wildland Fire Assessment System. The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) revised the mandatory effective date for those areas where local government has responsibility for wildland fire protection (LRA) to July 1, 2008, to enable local government agencies more time to review and accept the fire hazard . "[52] March Air Reserve Base is the primary staging area for relief supplies as coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At least 400 houses and 500 mobile homes were destroyed. The heat and smoke combined forced public health officials and Gov. 2008 California Wildfires - The National Guard July U.S. Release: Tue, 8 Aug 2023, 11:00 AM EDT, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Wildland Fire Assessment System, U.S. Forest Service Active Fire Mapping Program. San Diego city attorney Michael Aguirre, citing concerns over weather conditions and air quality, urged the city to consider a voluntary evacuation of the entire city. [65], On November 6, 2007, the state of California reported that the fires were under control. [20], Major contributing factors to the extreme fire conditions were drought in Southern California, hot weather, and the unusually strong Santa Ana winds, with gusts reaching 112mph (180km/h). Largest Wildfires in California history | RainViewer Blog There's more need for resources than ever before it's fire season all year round". [25] On September 10, the Colony Fire was 100% contained, ending the last of the Summer 2008 California wildfires. NASA Goddard Space The image centers on the largest of the fires in the Siskiyou Complex. The fire was responsible for the deaths of 23 individuals. [19] The fires forced approximately 1,000,000 people to evacuate from their homes, becoming the largest evacuation in California's history. Montecito Tea Fire: The Montecito Tea wildfire began on November 13, 2008, in the community of Montecito, resulting in the destruction of 210 homes. Top 20 Deadliest California Wildfires Aviation Retardant and Water Usage Fixed Wing Flight Hours Rotary Wing Rescues Law Enforcement Arson Arrests Arson Acres Burned Civil Cost Recovery Incident Response Total Annual Incidents Acres Burned vs. The 2008 California wildfire season was one of the most devastating since the turn of the 21st Century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area exceeded that of the previous years, far exceeding the total area of each year prior to 2007. The most significant fires were the following: During the season, the National Interagency Fire Center reported 13 firefighter fatalities while battling wildfires. Burned mobile home neighborhood in California.jpg. under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0, may be used (Dashed lines on the above charts are OLS linear trends fit to the data. The winter's deadly and devastating floods are a distant memory for many Californians. [11], The wildfires killed a total of 17 people, with nine of them dying directly from the fires;[12][8] 203 others were injured, including at least 124 firefighters. This is a marked improvement over drought conditions present at mid-summer, when much of the Southeast, South, northern Great Plains, the West, and Hawai'i was in moderate to exceptional drought and fire danger was high to extreme over most of the western United States. Image of the Day Statista offers daily infographics about trending topics, covering:Economy & Finance, Politics & Society, Tech & Media, Health & Environment, Consumer, Sports and many more. A 2017 study led by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the cost of short-term exposures to US wildfires occurring between 2008 and 2012 that led to premature deaths or hospital admissions at $63 billion; the cost of long-term exposures was estimated at $450 billion. That blaze was nearly 60,000 acres as of June 26, and about 70 percent contained. Southern California Wildfires Amid Record Heat. Almost two weeks later, the aftermath revealed destruction of at least 400 houses and 500 mobile homes, causing $800 million dollars in loss. The large burn scar in the lower center of the center shows that the fire ran all the way to the coast in places. The National Guard is assisting the U.S. Forest Service in firefighting efforts to contain, control, and extinguish wildfires in California. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. TLR5 has been linked with the asthma phenotype experimentally and in human subjects. [6], The Basin Complex Fire in the Ventana Wilderness became the third largest wildfire in California's history based on size (until it was surpassed in size by the 2013 Rim Fire), and also the second-costliest wildfire to extinguish in U.S. Conditions improved slightly during August over parts of southern and eastern Texas, primarily as a result of the heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Edouard (landfall on Aug. 5) following closely behind Hurricane Dolly in July (see the U.S. Drought Monitor Change Map for more information). Some of the color dots have information balloons (info boxes with geo data coordinates) that can be viewed. Three of California's Biggest Fires Ever Are Burning Right Now The Carrell family home . [42] In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District urged the elderly and people with respiratory problems to stay indoors. [36] During the crisis, Mexico provided power to help augment the electrical needs of the San Diego area. A significant improvement in the KBDI index was seen across Florida during the second half of August as a result of Tropical Storm Fay, which dumped over 20 inches (50 cm) of rain on parts of the state. [9] At the peak of the wildfire activity in October 2007, the raging wildfires were visible from space. The last active fire of the October 2007 fires, the Harris Fire, was fully extinguished on November 16, 2007, about 27 days after the series of wildfires had begun to ignite. Having burned 273,246 acres of land, the fire had been completely extinguished on November 4, but the resulting smaller fires continued until December 5. [22] By the following day, the Telegraph Fire had gone from 1,000 to 16,000 acres (400 to 6,470 hectares), and within days had destroyed 21 homes in the community of Midpines. This chart shows the acreage burned in wildfires across California annually between 2008 and 2021. Californi a wildfire tracker. Simply copy the HTML code that is shown for the relevant statistic in order to integrate it. Use is, however, only permitted with Receive notifications of our most recent images! Text is available . In addition, the Department provides varied emergency services in 36 of the State's 58 counties via contracts with local . Fires in California - NASA Earth Observatory [42], The Horno Fire had charred 6,000 acres (24km2) in Camp Pendleton by 4:00 A.M PDT, on October 24, 2007. During the weekend of June 21-22, a dry low-pressure system crossed over California producing dry lightning and ignited nearly 2000 fires across 17 counties. [44], However, air quality in Oregon degraded as plumes of smoke drifted northward instead of concentrating in the Central Valley.[45]. [43] Traffic was being diverted to Interstate 15, which had itself been closed earlier. [2] Thirty of those wildfires were part of the Fall 2007 California firestorm,[8] which burned approximately 972,147 acres (about 3,934km2, or 1,520mi2) of land from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.Mexico border. Over 3,596 individual fires were burning at the height of the period, burning large portions of forests and chaparral in California, injuring at least 34 individuals and killing 32. [1], By July 5, 2008, 328 wildfires were burning, and those fires were only 81% contained. Flight Center. Incidents | CAL FIRE 2008 California wildfires; B. Basin Complex Fire; F. Freeway Complex Fire; G. Gap Fire (2008) I. Indians Fire; K. Klamath Theater Complex Fire; S. Sayre Fire; Sesnon Fire; Summit Fire (2008) T. Tea Fire This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 14:26 (UTC). [48], The month of November saw a large number of fires, around 2,151, which began burning across Southern California on November 13, with 4 of them becoming major wildfires. Siskiyou Complex Fire, Northern California, Basin Complex Fire Near Big Sur, California, NASA Goddard Space [27][16][28], In total, the Summer 2008 wildfires burned a total of 1,161,197 acres (469,920ha), which accounts for 84% of the total area burned during the 2008 wildfire season. Firefighters walk past backfire while battling the Mosquito Fire in El Dorado County on Sept. 9, 2022. Can I integrate infographics into my blog or website? Freeway Complex Fire: Beginning on November 15, 2008, the Freeway wildfire burned about 30,305 acres, injured 14 firefighters, destroyed about 200 structures, and forced the evacuations of about 7,000 homes. PM10 particles are small enough to enter deep into the lungs, and possibly the bloodstream. From July to November, a greater number of fires were reported, when compared to the 19852008 average, but with less acreage burnt. Summer danger in California: Unpredictable wildfires and extreme heat. [35], At one point, swirling winds threatened to bring fire into densely populated urban areas. [14] President George W. Bush concurred, and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts. The decrease in these locations corresponds with a general lack of large wildfires in states outside of the western U.S. Dead fuel moisture levels remained critically low from northern and central California northeastward to the central Dakotas. [23], During August, wildfire activity began to diminish, although there were still hundreds of wildfires still burning. August 31, 2008. The smoke from the fires finally began to disperse on September 10, after the last of the wildfires was fully contained. A paper in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology studied a group of adolescent rhesus macaque monkeys that were exposed during infancy to smoke from northern California wildfires in 2008. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, October 2017 Northern California wildfires, "National Report of Wildland Fires and Acres Burned by State 2008", "Wildland Fire Accidents and Fatalities by Year", "California Wildfires and Acres for all Jurisdictions", "California's Wildfires Have Scorched 527,000 acres", "Military joining fire battles up, down California", "Firefighters battling hundreds of blazes", "Bush surveys record-breaking California wildfires", "Homes burn as wildfire rages in Santa Cruz Mountains", "Push is on to stall Goleta fire before winds; more evacuations at Big Sur", "California wildfires strain state's resources", "9,443-acre Goleta wildfire fully containment [sic]", "Big Sur Evacuated as Wildfires Race to the California Coast", "2,000 homes threatened by 'erratic' wildfire near Yosemite - CNN.com", "Wildfire threatens homes and vacations in Yosemite", "All statewide fires from 6/22/08 to 8/11/08", California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, "Dry weather, spring freeze cost local farmers millions", "Governor declares drought in California", "Lightning storm sparks 800 plus fires in California", "Inland temperatures heading into record territory", "Big Sur fire crews worry about hotter weather", "Lightning takes Northern California fires from bad to worse", "Wildfires' smoke, ash chokes Northern Californians", "Myriad wildfires pollute air, pose health risks and keep on spreading", "Smoky haze raises health risk in Valley", "Smoke from Lake County fire a danger to some", "Smoke clears slightly, but air is still bad", "Delta breeze clears the air in Sacramento Valley", "Smoke from California wildfires drifts into Oregon", "Governor activates emergency plan in response to heat wave", "Heat wave eases thanks to onshore breeze", "Early Life Wildfire Smoke Exposure Is Associated with Immune Dysregulation and Lung Function Decrements in Adolescence", "Renewed drought conditions fan California's wildfire fears", "Los Angeles fears blackouts as wildfire burns", "Schwarzenegger calls for review after Sylmar tragedy as blazes rage on", "Heat may hamper firefighters this afternoon", "Freeway Complex Fire Burns 7,300 Acres; Tens of Thousands Evacuated", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2008_California_wildfires&oldid=1160773234, This page was last edited on 18 June 2023, at 17:57. Over the first weekend of summer, record-breaking lightning activity in the state triggered hundreds of wildfires. [25] Another was suspected as having been deliberately caused; the suspect was shot and killed in flight by state authorities. [45] When fleeing the fires, some were arrested, while others were turned away from shelters due to lack of adequate identification. California Wildfires of 2008: Coarse and Fine Particulate Matter The fire was responsible for the deaths of 23 individuals. Freeaway Complex Fire.jpg 1,024 768; 447 KB. [5] The majority of the fires were started by lightning from dry thunderstorms on June 20,[11] although some earlier fires ignited during mid-May. Over the first weekend of summer, record-breaking lightning activity in the state triggered hundreds of wildfires. Several were triggered by power lines damaged by the high winds. The Statista "Chart of the Day", made available Create an Account , 55 SW Ash Street 2023 California wildfires - Wikipedia According to the state of California's Consolidated Response web page, "There are 17 active fires in Southern California. The wildfire season in the U.S. generally extends from March 1st through November 30th. Just to the northeast is the Basin Complex Fire, which was about 20,000 acres. Illegal migrant workers were endangered by the crisis, sometimes staying at work in the fields within mandatory evacuation zones. History of California Wildfires | WFCA Throughout the year, 1,593,690 acres (6,449.4 km2) of land were burned. U.S. Drought Monitor map from December 30, 2008 In 2018, California experienced the most destructive wildfire season on record, with 7,571 fires burning nearly 1.7 million acres, over 23,300 damaged or destroyed structures, and 93 confirmed fatalities.1 The Camp Fire, which began on November 8, 2018, in east wind-driven fire-prone wildlands in Butte County, Northern California, was the . Some of the wildfires as seen from space during the height of the summer outbreak on July 9, 2008. Schwarzenegger said, adding, "Something is happening, clearly. Drought conditions and high fire risk were particularly persistent in areas of the Northwest and Southeast. For the first time since 1977, the military helped with ground-based firefighting, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dispatched 400 California National Guard troops to man fire lines. proper attribution to Statista. Summer 2008 California Wildfires - Fire History - LiquiSearch Fires occur throughout the State within CAL FIRE jurisdiction on a daily basis during fire season. [7] For the first time since 1977, the US military helped with ground-based firefighting, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dispatched 400 California National Guard troops, including Chief Medical Officer Susan Pangelinan, to manage fire lines. In this study, we presented a comprehensive analysis of wildfire behavior using: (1) two latent class choice models (LCCMs) for the decision to evacuate or not; and (2) two portfolio choice models (PCMs) for multi-dimensional decision-making (e.g., departure day, departure time of day, destination, shelter type, transportation mode .