{"id":478,"date":"2026-05-19T22:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:56:07","slug":"californias-wildfire-season-already-overactive-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s Wildfire Season Is Already Overactive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in-text-callout\">It\u2019s May, but<\/span> California is already getting a taste of what peak fire season could look like, as out-of-control blazes pose a danger to infrastructure and some of the most threatened trees on the planet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">A combination of high winds and heat has contributed to a trio of major fires in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The largest among them is the Santa Rosa Island Fire, which started over the weekend in Channel Islands National Park after a stranded sailor used flares to signal for help. The blaze has consumed roughly 16,600 acres\u2014almost a third of the entire island. While some structures have been lost, the biggest is a grove of Torrey pines, which are among the rarest trees in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Torrey pines are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/species\/42424\/2979186#threats\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/species\/42424\/2979186#threats&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/species\/42424\/2979186#threats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">group has warned<\/a> that the grove on the island faces \u201chigh potential risk from destructive fires.\u201d While the Santa Rosa Island Fire burned through the grove, there\u2019s hope that the worst-case scenario may not have come to pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cUpon initial assessments, fire crews are observing that the fire intensity was low and that the stand remains intact,\u201d Mike Theune, the fire information officer assigned by the federal government, writes in an email. \u201cWhen safe to do so, a fire effects crew will be assigned to make a full determination of condition and any long-term effects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">While smaller, the Sandy Fire has forced thousands to evacuate in and around Simi Valley, located about 35 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Fire activity increased on Tuesday morning as high winds whipped the flames across nearly 1,400 acres.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The fire is only 5 percent contained, while the Santa Rosa Island Fire isn\u2019t contained at all. Because homes and businesses are threatened, the Sandy Fire has received more aerial resources to quell the flames. The River Fire has also burned 3,535 acres in Kern County and is 15 percent contained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">In the early stages of fire season, nearly 41,000 acres have burned across the state, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But that\u2019s well above the five-year average of 23,380 acres burned by this date and could be a harbinger of what\u2019s to come in the state and across the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Record-breaking heat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-summer-the-american-water-crisis-turned-real\/\" class=\"text link\">obliterated already-meager snowpack<\/a> this spring, leaving states primed to burn. The most recent snowpack measurements show California\u2019s Sierra Nevada range harbors just 9 percent of its usual snowpack for this time of year, while many basins in other parts of the West have no measurable snow at all, according to federal data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Hot weather is, of course, a hallmark of climate change. A <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/climate-matters\/western-snowpack-drought-2026\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/climate-matters\/western-snowpack-drought-2026&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.climatecentral.org\/climate-matters\/western-snowpack-drought-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent analysis<\/a> by the nonprofit Climate Central found that April 1 snowpack\u2014a key date for measuring what\u2019s on the ground\u2014has declined across the West by 18 percent since 1955.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">All of which is to say that while the early season fires are bad, the West hasn\u2019t seen anything yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/californias-wildfire-season-already-overactive\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s May, but California is already getting a taste of what peak fire season could look like, as out-of-control blazes pose a danger to infrastructure and some of the most threatened trees on the planet. A combination of high winds and heat has contributed to a trio of major fires in Southern California. The largest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[99,96,97,98],"class_list":{"0":"post-478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-fire","11":"tag-wildfires"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>California\u2019s Wildfire Season Is Already Overactive - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Major fires are threatening homes and ecologically sensitive areas following a hot, dry winter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California\u2019s Wildfire Season Is Already Overactive - 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