'Peak Fire Season' Is Over In CA, Newsom Announces

NAPA, CA — After the state endured the strongest dry windstorm of the year without reporting any significant wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared the end of "peak fire season."

On Thursday, the Democratic governor touted the state's actions in bolstering fire agencies coupled with mild weather for a "significantly less severe wildfire season," he said while visiting a fire station in Napa.

“There’s no better representation of how volatile fire seasons can be than my first term as Governor – two of the most destructive wildfire seasons in recorded history, and two of the least destructive in a decade,” Newsom said.

The governor pointed to "record investments" in wildfire fighting resources, including $2.8 million in "wildfire resilience" funds for helping to curtail wildfires this year.

In 2022, the state saw a "significant reduction" in acres burned and structures damaged or destroyed. This year, 876 structures were damaged or destroyed. In 2021, 3,560 structures were damaged or destroyed.

“While Mother Nature gave us favorable conditions, it’s the investments made by Governor Newsom and the Legislature, and the hard work of our crews and communities coming together that will continue to turn the page on the severity and destruction of past wildfire seasons. But our work is far from over and we continue to ask all Californians to double-down on fire safety and prevention efforts,” said CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler.

As the state continues to mitigate record-drought conditions, Californians may not be out of the woods just yet. The state is currently in the midst of the driest three-year period of drought on record and wildfires have become a year-round threat rather than a seasonal event, but fire activity usually spikes during the hottest months of the year.

The news comes as Southern California residents brace for the warmest and breeziest day of the week on Thanksgiving Thursday. Another bought of Santa Ana winds were expected to reignite concerns for wildfires, the Los Angeles Times reported. Just last week, much of the Southland was under red flag and high wind warnings, issued by the National Weather Service.

READ MORE: Wind Gusts Hit 102 MPH In Los Angeles County As Santa Anas Howl

Many experts anticipated a volatile fire season for 2022, but a disastrous fire event comparable to those recorded in 2020 or 2021 never sparked.

Scott Stephens, a professor of fire sciences at the University of California at Berkeley, told Al Jazeera that fewer lightning storms and a lack of strong windstorms during heatwaves contributed to a more tame fire year.

Stephens told the newspaper that tactics such as setting controlled fires designed to thin overgrown forests were a “step in the right direction."

He added that such efforts need to be built upon to hit the California's goals, which include using natural resource management to prevent fires, Al Jazeera reported.

For the past decade, the Golden State's fire agencies have battled record-setting blazes up and down the state. Entire towns were leveled in that time and thousands of homes have been destroyed.

Last year 2,569,386 acres burned, but that number paled in comparison to 2020 — the state's worst fire season on record. That year, 4,304,379 acres burned, 33 people died and 11,116 structures were destroyed.

Tens of thousands of firefighters were on the front lines of dozens of towering and uncontainable fires in 2020, after more than 14,000 dry lightning strikes ignited more than 900 fires across the state.

Some residents were forced to defend their own homes. In one case, a man defended his home with just a 30 pack of Bud Light.

"I was panicking trying to find water and I thought 'what do I have a lot of?'" Little said. "It dawned on me that I had two cases of Bud Light."

READ MORE: California Man Extinguishes Fire With Bud Light