One year ago, a massive wildfire started near the community of Paradise in the foothills of the California Sierra Nevada mountains. The Camp Fire, raged for days eventually burning 153,335 acres (62,052 hectare) before it was contained.
The fire consumed 100,000 of those acres in the first two days, its wind driven flames were spreading at the rate of 80 football fields a minute.
On this day one year ago the fire consumed the town of Paradise in four hours. The fire destroyed virtually every structure in the community. Nearly 19,000 buildings were destroyed including the homes of over 30,000 people. The fire also killed 86 people, often as they were trapped by the rapidly expanding blaze in their homes or cars struggling to escape.
It would be of some comfort to blame "nature" for this horrific event, but it would also be a massive evasion of the truth. Human greed and political failures were the reasons for the devastation and loss of life. You can read the about both in this excellent article.
The camp fire wasn't California's first mega-fire and clearly based on the fires of 2019, it wasn't the last. The climate is changing and making these fires more likely and much more powerful. Can humans learn the lessons from these fires and do what's necessary to mitigate their impact in the future? We'll see.
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