On the second day of April, the skies were clear over the San Francisco Bay Area and the view from atop the sun-drenched Mount Umunhum in the South Bay spread across a sea of green shrubs and trees carpeting the surrounding Santa Cruz Mountains.
It was a beautiful sight, but a team of researchers from San Jose State University’s Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center — the only wildfire research center in California — noticed something wasn’t quite right.
“I was shocked when we went up there because usually in April we have a lot of new growth and old growth, and we didn’t see any new growth on the shrubs,” said Craig Clements, a SJSU professor and director of the center. “We weren’t seeing any of the lighter colored, bright green new growth sprouting out of the growth. Usually we take clippings of new stems and there weren’t any. This has never happened.”
Clements shared an image (above) from the expedition on Twitter and wrote, “The lack of rain this season has severely impacted our chaparral live fuel moistures. Wow, never seen April fuels look so… dry. No new growth anywhere in this Chamise. April is climatologically the highest live FMC of the season. Very Scary!”
FMC refers to “fuel-moisture content” — a measure of the ratio of moisture to combustible material in brush and trees that indicates how prone they are to burning. And the image up top is an area ready and waiting for wildfire.
The humble shrub that’s predicting a terrible fire season : Chamise is kind of a crystal ball for understanding how badly California might burn. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/the-humble-shrub-thats-predicting-a-terrible-fire-season/
Chamise https://thenaturecollective.org/plant-guide/details/chamise/
8AM MDT tomorrow morning 20th
At least 70 large wildfires burning in US west as fears mount over conditions https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/17/us-west-wildfires-bootleg-fire-oregon
Firefighter suffers serious burns while fighting fire in Montana https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/17/firefighter-suffers-serious-burns-while-fighting-fire-in-montana/
“The Dixie Fire burning in two Northern California counties is now the largest single wildfire in recorded state history, exploding in size overnight as drought-stricken lands continue to fuel the flames.” https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/08/06/dixie-fire-becomes-largest-single-wildfire-in-california-history-1389651
“…The troubling development reflects not just the dire effects of climate change and neglected forest management, but also that the electric grid remains prone to sparking wildfires. Pacific Gas & Electric disclosed last month that its equipment may have caused the catastrophic blaze.
The Dixie Fire is eerily similar to the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive blaze in state history — and sparked by PG&E. The two fires started less than 10 miles apart from each other in the Feather River Canyon, a heavily wooded area with decrepit transmission lines.”
As Dixie Fire rages in Northern California, questions for PG&E mount https://www.redding.com/story/news/local/2021/08/06/did-pg-e-equipment-start-dixie-fire-california-wildfires/5514007001/
The Dixie Fire, the largest U.S. wildfire so far this year, had burned more than 430,000 acres as of Friday morning and was 35% contained.
As Dixie fire tears through communities, some refuse evacuation orders with guns in hand https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-07/dixie-firefighters-struggle-as-some-residents-refuse-to-evacuate-in-towns-under-siege
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 8th
California’s Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe tripled in size from 6,500 acres Tuesday morning to 53,772 acres Wednesday morning. The blaze, which is zero percent contained, threatens more than 5,800 homes, officials said. https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/Pollock-Pines-evacuates-as-Caldor-Fire-near-Tahoe-16394873.php
The Dixie fire — now the largest single wildfire in California history — grew to 635,728 acres by Wednesday morning and was racing towards the city of Susanville, population 15,000. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-18/dixie-fire-races-toward-susanville-forcing-some-residents-to-evacuate