On the evening of Oct. 10, a fire ignited in Southern California, burning more than 8,000 acres in just a few days. As recovery efforts and damage assessments begin in the area, which was 52% contained as of Oct. 16, said the Los Angeles Daily News. To date, in 2019, only about 163,000 acres have burned in California, reports Bloomberg, which is a fraction of the 632,000 acres singed during the same period in 2018. However, firefighters say the threat of more wildfires still looms. Efforts to mitigate fire risks such as PG&E's power blackout and favorable weather helped firefighters identify and contain hot spots before they could spread. "How we warm up and how we dry out are pretty important on how we set up the fire regime for the rest of the year," Mike Anderson, a state climatologist in Sacramento, told Bloomberg. "This year, our heat didn't show up until August. We actually caught a break." California's wildfire season lasts into winter, and low humidity levels coupled with high winds coming over the mountain range create a lingering wildfire threat. And if history is any indication, wildfires that ignite late in the season can be very devastating, explains Bloomberg, such as the Thomas fire in December 2017 that burned 281,893 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Additionally, the 147 million dead trees in California forests also pose a wildfire threat. "Everyone who is commenting on this year is doing so with their fingers crossed," Keith Gilless, dean emeritus of the U.C. Berkeley College of Natural Resources, in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. "It's hard to say what the rest of this year is going to bring … We probably should see more fire activity into November at some point." View post-disaster images of the Saddleridge Fire in the gallery above, provided by the Geospatial Intelligence Center (GIC). Related: |

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