The National Interagency Fire Center has identified 67 large fires burning across 12 states. So, far the total area burned is 917,000 acres, almost 5 times the size of New York City. To be more specific, the area is actually equivalent to 4.75 times the area of NYC. Between January 1 to July 13, 2021, The agency says more than 2 million acres have burned in a total of 33,953 fires. This surpasses the 2020 data for the exact same time period.
California has lost tens of thousands of acres this year, being more than double the amount burned from last year. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Monday that more than 103,000 acres have burned this year. There has also been a total of 4,991 fires, almost 700 more than a year ago.
On Cal Fire’s website, it says “While wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season in California and across the west is starting earlier and ending later each year.” It went into further detail saying “The length of the fire season is estimated to have increased 75 days across the Sierras.”
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