Firefighters battle the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, California, on November 12, 2018. That blaze burned nearly 97,000 acres in Southern California, killing three people and damaging an estimated $6 billion in property.
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Why California's wildfires are so hard to fight
Intense winds, drought, and difficult terrain is making the fire difficult to contain.
Wildfires can spring up anywhere that dry brush is exposed to a spark, but in California the challenge of fighting them is especially acute.
“What we're seeing now is that the fire season for the last two years has been a year-round fire season,” says Brian Rice, chairman of the California Fire Foundation and president of the California Professional Firefighters.
Hot, dry summer conditions are persisting into the fall, Rice says, leaving the state flammable. According to the U.S. drought monitor, 18 percent of the state is currently experiencing severe drought, which is exacerbating the existing seasonal weather patterns and landscapes that make it difficult to fight fires in California.
It only takes a little wind to make a fire grow. In
