2016 California wildfires

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2016 California wildfires
SherpaFireSkyCraneDrop.jpg
A Skycrane makes a drop on the Sherpa Fire in June.
Statistics[1]
Total fires 4,270 (As of August 27)
Total area 387,669 acres (1,568.84 km2)(As of August 25)
Fatalities 6 civilians killed, 1 firefighter (As of August 6)
Season
← 2015
2017 →

The 2016 California wildfires are a series of wildfires that burned across the state of California during 2016. As of 27 August 2016, 4,270 fires had burned 183,025 acres (740.68 km2), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.[1]

Climatologists had predicted an extreme version of El Niño known as Super El Niño to occur during the winter of 2015-16. Although the Pacific Ocean’s warming water had been expected to bring strong storms to parts of the southwestern United States, actual precipitation totals generally underperformed those expectations.[2] Early in the year, The National Interagency Fire Center predicted that conditions from May through at least August would put much of the western United States in above-normal wildfire danger.[3]

Events[edit]

In June, the United States Forest Service estimated that over 26 million trees had died across 760,000 acres (310,000 ha) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This brought the number of dead trees to over 66 million during the past four years of drought.[4]

August[edit]

On August 15, the National Interagency Fire Center showed the state leading the nation in the quantity, size and intensity of wildfires.[4]

On August 16, San Bernardino County announced that nearly 85,000 people were evacuated because of the Blue Cut Fire near Cajon Pass.[5] Authorities arrested a 40-year-old man in connection to the Clayton Fire, and charged him with 17 counts of arson.[4]

Fires[edit]

Name County Acres Start Date Contained Date Active? Notes Ref
Roberts San Luis Obispo 3,712 May 18, 2016 May 20, 2016 Contained [6]
Metz Monterey 3,876 May 22, 2016 May 25, 2016 Contained [7]
Coleman Monterey 2,520 June 4, 2016 June 17, 2016 Contained [8]
Pony Siskiyou 2,860 June 7, 2016 N/A Active (90%) [9]
Sherpa Santa Barbara 7,474 June 15, 2016 July 12, 2016 Contained [10]
Border San Diego 7,609 June 19, 2016 June 30, 2016 Contained 2 fatalities, 5 homes and 11 outbuildings destroyed [11]
San Gabriel Complex Los Angeles 5,399 June 20, 2016 July 23, 2016 Contained Reservoir Fire burned 1,146 acres; Fish Fire burned 4,253 acres [12]
Erskine Kern 48,019 June 23, 2016 July 12, 2016 Contained 2 fatalities, 285 homes destroyed, 12 damaged [13]
Trailhead Placer 5,646 June 28, 2016 July 18, 2016 Contained [14]
Pine Ventura 2,304 June 30, 2016 N/A Active (98%) [15]
Deer Kern 1,785 July 1, 2016 July 11, 2016 Contained [16]
Curry Fresno 2,944 July 1, 2016 July 5, 2016 Contained [17]
Sage Los Angeles 1,109 July 9, 2016 July 16, 2016 Contained [18]
Roblar San Diego 1,245 July 21, 2016 July 30, 2016 Contained [19]
Sand Los Angeles 41,432 July 22, 2016 August 3, 2016 Contained 2 fatalities, 18 homes destroyed, 4 damaged [20] [21]
Soberanes Monterey 90,062 July 22, 2016 N/A Active (60%) 1 fatality, 3 injuries, 57 homes and 11 outbuildings destroyed [22]
Goose Fresno 2,241 July 30, 2016 August 9, 2016 Contained 4 homes, 5 outbuildings destroyed [23]
Cold Yolo 5,731 August 2, 2016 August 12, 2016 Contained 2 outbuildings destroyed [24]
Pilot San Bernardino 8,110 August 7, 2016 August 16, 2016 Contained [25]
Mineral Fresno 7,050 August 9, 2016 August 18, 2016 Contained 2 structures destroyed [26]
Chimney San Luis Obispo 45,108 August 13, 2016 N/A Active (55%) 48 structures destroyed [27]
Clayton Lake 3,929 August 13, 2016 August 26, 2016 Contained 189 homes, 109 outbuildings destroyed [28]
Blue Cut San Bernardino 36,274 August 16, 2016 August 23, 2016 Contained 105 homes, 213 outbuildings destroyed [29]
Cedar Kern 29,040 August 16, 2016 N/A Active (30%) [30]
Rey Santa Barbara 33,006 August 18, 2016 N/A Active (54%) [31]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Fire Statistics". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 20 June 2016. 
  2. ^ Blankenbuehler, Paige (22 June 2016). "El Niño adds fuel to Southwestern fires". The Journal. Retrieved 25 June 2016. 
  3. ^ Grenoble, Ryan (2 May 2016). "Here's Where The 2016 Wildfire Season Risk Is The Highest". The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 25 June 2016. 
  4. ^ a b c Fears, Darryl (16 August 2016). "California is in flames right now, with fires fueled by historic drought". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 August 2016. 
  5. ^ "More than 82,000 people flee Southern California wildfire". Chicago Tribune. August 16, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  6. ^ "Roberts Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved May 25, 2016. 
  7. ^ "Metz Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved May 25, 2016. 
  8. ^ "Coleman Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved June 21, 2016. 
  9. ^ "Pony Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved June 24, 2016. 
  10. ^ "Sherpa Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved July 12, 2016. 
  11. ^ "Border Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 30 June 2016. 
  12. ^ "San Gabriel Complex". InciWeb. Retrieved July 23, 2016. 
  13. ^ "Erskine Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved 11 July 2016. 
  14. ^ "Trailhead Fire Updates". CAL FIRE Incident Information. Retrieved 9 July 2016. 
  15. ^ "Pine Fire". Inciweb. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  16. ^ "Deer Fire Updates". CAL FIRE Incident Information. CAL FIRE. Retrieved 9 July 2016. 
  17. ^ "Curry Fire Updates". CAL FIRE Incident Information. CAL FIRE. Retrieved 5 July 2016. 
  18. ^ "Sage Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 24 July 2016. 
  19. ^ "Roblar Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 31 July 2016. 
  20. ^ Carr, Ada and Wright, Pam (24 July 2016). "Body Found As Firefighters Continue to Battle 'Sand Fire' Near Los Angeles; 18 Homes Destroyed". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 25 July 2016. 
  21. ^ "Sand Fire". Inciweb. Retrieved 28 July 2016. 
  22. ^ "Soberanes Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 28 July 2016. 
  23. ^ "Goose Fire Updates". CAL FIRE Incident Information. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  24. ^ "Cold Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 4 August 2016. 
  25. ^ "Pilot Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved 8 August 2016. 
  26. ^ "Mineral Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 11 August 2016. 
  27. ^ "ChimneyFire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 23 August 2016. 
  28. ^ "Clayton Fire". CAL FIRE. Retrieved 26 August 2016. 
  29. ^ "Blue Cut Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved 8 August 2016. 
  30. ^ "Cedar Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved 18 August 2016. 
  31. ^ "Rey Fire". InciWeb. Retrieved 23 August 2016. 

External links[edit]