By the end of 2021, a total of 7,396

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s burned across the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Approximately 3,629 structures were damaged or destroyed by the wildfires, and three firefighters died during the wildfire season. The wildfire season in California experienced an unusually early start amid an ongoing drought and historically low rainfall and reservoir levels. In January 2021 alone, 297 fires burned on nonfederal land according to the

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, colloquially known as CAL FIRE, is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various area ...

, which is almost triple the number of fires and more than 20 times the acreage of the five-year average for January. The January fires were exacerbated by unseasonably strong

Santa Ana winds The Santa Ana winds, occasionally referred to as the devil winds, are strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure ...

, and some of them burned in the same areas as previous fires like the CZU Lightning Complex. The long term trend is that wildfires in the state are increasing due to

climate change in California Climate change in California has resulted in higher than average temperatures, leading to increased occurrences of droughts and wildfires. Over the next few decades in California, climate change is predicted to further reduce water availabilit ...

. The 2021 wildfire season was exceptionally severe in California, although it did not approach the extent of the previous year's wildfire season, which was the largest season in the state's recorded history. As of July 11, more than three times as many acres have burned compared to the previous year through that date, with drought,

extreme heat A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...

, and reduced snowpack contributing to the severity of the fires. The state also faces an increased risk of post-wildfire landslides. As of August 18, 2021, the state of California was facing "unprecedented fire conditions" as multiple fires including the Dixie Fire, McFarland Fire,

Caldor Fire The Caldor Fire was a large wildfire that burned in the Eldorado National Forest and other areas of the Sierra Nevada in El Dorado County, California, El Dorado, Amador County, California, Amador, and Alpine County, California, Alpine County, ...

, and others, raged on. The

USDA Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

temporarily closed all of California's

national forests National Forest may refer to: * National forest or state forest, a forest administered or protected by a sovereign state ** National forest (Brazil) ** National forest (France) ** National forest (United States) ** State Forests (Poland) ** The N ...

at the end of August to mitigate the impact of potential fires. On October 18, 2021, much of the state—particularly Northern California, where the majority of the significant fires had been located—received its first major precipitation since the start of the wildfire season. This significantly lowered wildfire risk in the region.

Impact

Pyrocumulus cloud produced by the Dixie Fire on July 22-5865

PG&E The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

and other utility companies preemptively spent billions of dollars to reduce the risk of wildfires and avoid an year similar to the previous year's fire season. Firefighters have also set prescribed fires to prevent other fires burning. During evacuations from the Lava Fire, an illegal marijuana farmer was shot and killed by police after brandishing a firearm at authorities, while "defending his farm". A 2023 study found that these wildfires are affecting the California ecosystem and disrupting the habitats. It found that in the 2020 and 2021 fire seasons 58% of the area affected by wildfires occurred in those two seasons since 2012. These two fires destroyed 30% of the habitat of 50 species as well as 100 species that had 10% of their habitats burn. 5-14% of the species' habitats burned at a "high severity."

List of wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than , or produced significant structural damage or casualties.

Wildfires listed by month

Gallery of maps

File:2021 Dixie Fire map 1.png, Dixie Fire File:2021 McCash Fire map 1.png, McCash Fire File:River Fire map 2.png, River Fire File:2021 Caldor Fire map.png,

File:2021 Windy Fire perimeter 1.png,

Windy Fire The 2021 Windy Fire was a large wildfire in the Sequoia National Forest in Central California's Tulare County. Ignited by a lightning strike in the southern Sierra Nevada on September 9, the fire burned over the course of a month, threatening ...

File:2021 KNP Complex Fire map 1.png,

KNP Complex Fire The 2021 KNP Complex Fire was a large wildfire in Sequoia National Park and the Sequoia National Forest in Central California's Tulare County, California, Tulare County. After lightning ignited the Paradise and Colony fires in the southern Sie ...

File:2021 Fawn Fire map.png,

Fawn Fire The Fawn Fire was a destructive wildfire in Northern California's Shasta County, California, Shasta County, near Redding, California, Redding, in late September and early October 2021. The fire, which was caused by an alleged act of arson, ig ...

References

External links

Current fire information
nbsp;—

(CAL FIRE) {{DEFAULTSORT:California Wildfires Effects of climate change California, 2021