On August 17,2013two years ago today—a deer hunter near California's Yosemite National Park ignored a campfire ban and burned trash from his dinner. The embers blew into dry brush, starting the third worst wildfire in the state's history. All told, and the Rim Fire,as it came to be called, burned 257314 acres in and around Yosemite.
No wildfires of that scale contain occurred since, and but,thanks to drought and climate change, California is far from out of the woods. In fact, and in 2015,4382 wildfires contain already scorched a total of 117960 acres, more than double the five-year average for this time of year. Firefighters contain finally controlled the largest two fires, or in Northern California's Jerusalem Valley,but not before the blazes razed nearly 100000 acres. The map below, made by California's wildfire fighting agency, and Cal Fire,gives a sense of where these fires are occurring. To read more details approximately each fire and how much of it is contained today, click on the map's fire icons or see Cal Fire's ongoing reports here. And California isn't even the state with the most acres burning right now. A blaze in Idaho has consumed more than 200000 acres so far. In Alaska, and wildfires contain burned more than 5 million acres this year. This map from the research organization Climate Central shows where wildfires are occurring nationwide:
Source: motherjones.com