Global Information2018 California wildfires information
| 2018 California wildfires | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
An August 1, 2018, satellite image of the wildfires burning in Northern California and Southern Oregon; smoke can be seen trailing northeastward over Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho | |||||||||||||||
| Statistics[1][2][3] | |||||||||||||||
| Total fires | 8,527 | ||||||||||||||
| Total area | 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha) | ||||||||||||||
| Impacts | |||||||||||||||
| Deaths | 97 civilians and 6 firefighters[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] | ||||||||||||||
| Non-fatal injuries | At least 80 | ||||||||||||||
| Structures destroyed | 24,226 | ||||||||||||||
| Damage | >$26.347 billion (2018 USD) (Costliest on record)[13][14][15][16][17] | ||||||||||||||
| Season | |||||||||||||||
← 2017
2019 → | |||||||||||||||
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now third after the 2020 and 2021 California wildfire seasons.[18][19][20] In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations.[21] The catastrophic Camp Fire alone killed at least 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings and caused $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall the fires resulted in at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs,[13][15][16][17][14] including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs.[13][14]
In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared in Northern California, due to the extensive wildfires burning there.[22]
The Carr Fire in July and August 2018 caused more than $1.5 billion (2018 USD) in property damage.[17][23][24][25] The Mendocino Complex Fire burned more than 459,000 acres (186,000 ha), becoming the largest complex fire in the state's history at the time, with the complex's Ranch Fire surpassing the Thomas Fire and the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire.[26][27] In September 2020, the August Complex surpassed the Mendocino Complex to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire.[28]
In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of large, destructive fires that occurred across the state. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 85 people, with 1 still unaccounted for as of August 2, 2019.[29] The Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record. AccuWeather estimated the total economic cost of the 2018 wildfires at $400 billion (2018 USD), which includes property damage, firefighting costs, direct and indirect economic losses, as well as recovery expenditures.[30] Another study, published two years after the fires, estimated the total damages at $148.5 billion, including capital losses, health costs and indirect losses.[31]
- ^ "2018 Incident Archive". CAL FIRE. 2020. Archived from the original on September 5, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- ^ "2018 National Year-to-Date Report on Fires and Acres Burned" (PDF). NIFC. November 9, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
- ^ "Southern Area Coordination Center". Southern Area Coordination Center. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
found deadwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
FergusonDeathwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
CarrDeathwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
CarrFirefighterDeathwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
SecondDeathwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
PG&Ewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Eighth Carrwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Mendocino Fatalitywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Time0824was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Nic Querolo; Brian K. Sullivan (October 29, 2019). "California Fire Damage Estimated at $25.4 Billion". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ a b c J. R. Reed (November 12, 2019). "A rising number of US companies are flagging wildfire risk as suppression costs climb". CNBC. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
- ^ a b Reyes-Velarde, Alejandra (January 11, 2019). "California's Camp fire was the costliest global disaster last year, insurance report shows". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
- ^ a b Emily Holland (November 28, 2018). "$6 Billion In Real Estate Destroyed In Woolsey Fire: Report". patch.com. Patch Media. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c "2018 National Large Incident Year-to-Date Report" (PDF). National Interagency Fire Center. November 9, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
- ^ "2018 Incident Archive". CAL FIRE. 2020. Archived from the original on September 5, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- ^ "2018 National Year-to-Date Report on Fires and Acres Burned" (PDF). NIFC. November 9, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
- ^ "Southern Area Coordination Center". Southern Area Coordination Center. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
- ^ Berger, Noah; Elias, Paul (September 7, 2018). "California takes financial wallop from unrelenting wildfires". Associated Press. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
- ^ "Governor Brown Announces Federal Approval of Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Shasta County". Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- ^ Jergler, Don (August 2, 2018). "Carr Fire Losses May Reach $1.5B in Likely Another Destructive Season for California". Insurance Journal. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ^ Siler, Wes (August 17, 2018). "The Economic Impact of Yosemite's Ferguson Fire". Outside Online. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
- ^ Beausang, Hannah (September 6, 2018). "Mendocino Complex wildfires cause $56 million of insured losses". North Bay Business Journal. Archived from the original on November 25, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
- ^ "California wildfire declared 'largest in state's history'". BBC News. August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ranch Firewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Michele Chandler (September 11, 2020). "What we know Thursday about North State fires: Elkhorn merges with August Complex to create 726K-acre monster". Redding.com. Redding Record Searchlight. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ "List of Missing in Camp Fire Down to 1". FOX40. Associated Press. August 2, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
- ^ John Roach (November 1, 2019). "California wildfires will cost tens of billions, AccuWeather estimates". AccuWeather. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
- ^ Wang, Daoping; Guan, Dabo; Zhu, Shupeng; Kinnon, Michael Mac; Geng, Guannan; Zhang, Qiang; Zheng, Heran; Lei, Tianyang; Shao, Shuai; Gong, Peng; Davis, Steven J. (December 7, 2020). "Economic footprint of California wildfires in 2018". Nature Sustainability. 4 (3): 252–260. doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00646-7. ISSN 2398-9629. S2CID 227513892.