California sees pre-summer wildfire boom, ‘alarming’ for rest of year
California’s summer is off to a fiery start after an explosion of wildfire activity across the state this week, with blazes stretching firefighting resources thin, forcing evacuations and scorching several homes, businesses and bone-dry hillsides. Perilous weather conditions in the last days of spring before Thursday — strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures — fueled flames from Los Angeles County to Colusa County north of Sacramento, with more than 30 wildfires igniting, including two of the state’s largest this year that each surpassed 15,000 acres in a matter of hours, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The early boom in wildfires is casting new concerns about what the rest of 2024 will bring, especially with the hottest months ahead and another heat dome forecast for interior California this weekend.
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