Since 2008, large wildfires that burned 3.7 million acres of land were either still under investigation at the time of Cal Fire's annual fire report, or a cause was never determined. (Photo by OCHawk) This map, created and maintained by Cal Fire and Riverside County Fire Department, shows where the Fairview fire is burning near Hemet and current evacuation areas. Investigators are unable to determine the cause of every wildfire. A home burns as a brush fire sweeps through Hemet, forcing evacuations and causing injuries on Monday, Sept.
One example was the 2018 Camp Fire – the state's most deadly and destructive on record – in which PG&E was found liable for its cause. California’s wildfire season, which had been moderate for much of the summer, picked up in the past week with half a dozen large fires forcing evacuations. Finally, power companies, such as PG&E, can cause destructive wildfires through delayed maintenance of power transmission and distribution equipment, or downed power lines due to bad weather.Perimeters do not include prescribed or incident complex fires. This map displays all current wildfire fire perimeters available through NIFC that have not been 100 contained. Several fast-moving wildfires are raging through California near the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Los Angeles shoreline. The state's third largest wildfire – the 2018 Mendocino Complex fire – was caused by sparks from a hammer and grew to consume 460,000 acres. Fire perimeters are based on geographic data from the National Interagency Fire Center, updated once an hour. California Fires Map: Tracking the Spread. People can start wildfires intentionally, through arson, or unintentionally, through an equipment mishap or an untended campfire.Mixed with super-dry conditions, you get something like the fire siege of 2020 – the state's most destructive fire year on record in terms of acres burned – when several massive wildfires ignited throughout the state around the same time, destroying millions of acres of land and blanketing the state with toxic smoke for weeks. Dozens of wildfires have been burning their way through swathes of the US West Coast over the last month, killing. Lightning strikes can cause widespread damage in the most remote areas of the state.Since 2008, large fires caused by lightning strikes have destroyed close to 7 million acres of land, followed by 2.7 million acres destroyed due to human causes, not counting the nearly 2 million acres due to malfunctioning power company infrastructure.