See How Many Homes In Your Area Are At Risk Of CA Wildfire Damage

CALIFORNIA — Last year, 3,629 structures were leveled by 8,835 wildfires in the Golden State. As California anticipates a dry summer, authorities are gearing up to defend homes and businesses around the state from potential fires.

According to a new model and report from nonprofit First Street Foundation, 80 million properties in the U.S. are at risk of exposure to wildfire. About 16 percent of the nation’s population lives in areas prone to wildfire damage, according to the Washington Post’s analysis of the group’s data.

In California, millions of properties are at risk for wildfire damage over the next 30 years, according to the report. Using this tool, you can look up your zip code to see how many properties are at risk.

Extreme drought conditions and rising temperatures are contributing to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons in the Golden State. This year, 1,734 wildfires have already scorched 7,464 acres, according to CalFire.

Just last week, the 2022 fire season officially kicked into high gear when a wildfire in Orange County tore through some 20 homes and hundreds of acres, sending residents fleeing for their lives. But experts said that fire season is more likely a year-round event nowadays.

READ MORE: Brush Fire Destroys Laguna Niguel Homes; 200+ Acres Burned

“Summer in California no longer means the beginning of fire season. Rather, it means we are about to enter the roughest six or so months of a fire season that never ends,” said Bill Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and head of its The West on Fire research project, according to USC News.

January’s extended dry spell was expected to continue into the spring with little precipitation, leaving most of the state in moderate to extreme drought conditions before summer. Dry conditions with above-normal temperatures through spring will leave fuel moisture levels lower than normal, increasing the potential for wildland fires, according to CalFire.

“Drought and the increasing effects of climate change come together in creating the likelihood — even the certainty — of bigger, hotter, and more catastrophic fires year to year,” Deverell said.

A significant lack of rain in recent months will likely set the stage for a dangerous fire season, meteorologists at AccuWeather predicted earlier this month.

"Unfortunately, in a nutshell, it looks like it’s going to be another busy season," he said. "We’re seeing a lot of drought. Almost half of the country is experiencing drought and the bulk of that is to the west," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel said, adding that AccuWeather forecasters "are expecting an above-average fire season."

Samuhel said he expects the 2022 season to burn 9.5 million acres of land across the western U.S. — 130 percent of the five-year average and 140 percent of the 10-year average.