The age of the “megafire”

Each shape here outlines the burned area of a fire.

These 38 fires were at some point considered among the largest

blazes on record across America’s West Coast.

Some happened more than a century ago.

 

Four of them happened in 2020.

2020

SCU Lightning

Complex fire

2020

Creek fire

2020

North Complex

fire

2020

August Complex fire

1 million acres

Each shape here outlines the burned area of a fire.

These 38 fires were at some point considered among the largest

blazes on record across America’s West Coast.

Some happened more than a century ago.

 

Four of them happened in 2020.

2020

Creek fire

2020

SCU Lightning

Complex fire

2020

North Complex

fire

2020

August Complex fire

1 million acres

Each shape below outlines the

burned area of a fire.

These 38 fires were at some point considered

among the largest blazes on record

across America’s West Coast.

 

Some happened more than a century ago.

 

Four of them happened in 2020.

2020

SCU Lightning

Complex fire

2020

Creek fire

2020

North Complex

fire

2020

August Complex fire

1 million acres

Each shape here outlines the burned area of a fire.

These 38 fires were at some point considered among the largest blazes on record across America’s West Coast.

Some happened more than a century ago.

 

Four of them happened in 2020.

2020

Creek fire

2020

SCU Lightning

Complex fire

2020

North Complex

fire

2020

August Complex fire

1 million acres

Each shape here outlines the burned area of a fire.

These 38 fires were at some point considered among the largest blazes on record across America’s West Coast.

Some happened more than a century ago.

 

Four of them happened in 2020.

2020

Creek fire

2020

SCU Lightning

Complex fire

2020

North Complex

fire

2020

August Complex fire

1 million acres

The age of the “megafire”

Wildfires shattered records across a number of U.S. states in 2020, with scientists and state officials placing much of the blame on climate change.

This is the perimeter shape of the Matilija fire, which burned 220,000 acres of land in Southern California, during the autumn of 1932.

This is the same 220,000 acres visualised as a square, making it easier to compare with other fires.

By 1970, or 38 years later, the fire was still the largest on record across all three West Coast states of California, Oregon and Washington.

Scroll to continue

The fire would remain the largest through to 2002. Then records began to be decimated year after year, as shown in this animation.

Deadly fires in 2020 devoured a record of more than 10 million acres in the western United States — a scale of devastation that fits into a long-term trend of more acreage being scorched as temperatures rise.

While nearly 57,000 wildfires sparked across the region in 2020, much of the resulting damage was done by one of the year’s 11 “megafires” — blazes engulfing more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares), according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Those megafires together burned an area more than 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) above the 10-year average for the region, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

And as climate change continues to warm the air, dry the land, and pull moisture from plants and the soil, scientists warn that such infernos could become more common — especially after decades of fire suppression has allowed forests to become overgrown, and more fire-prone, in areas that have become more populous.

A home is engulfed in flames during the Glass fire, California, Sept. 27, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Decades of data illustrated in this graphic show that trend is already in play, with many of the biggest recorded fires in history happening in recent years.

“Why are the fires doing what they’re doing?” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. “That really does boil down to climate change and the legacy of fire suppression in the 20th century.” Here is a look at the evolution of massive, record-setting fires across various U.S. states.

Northwest states

In the temperate forests of the northwestern United States, wildfire is part of the natural forest cycle — clearing away ground brush and, for some tree species, aiding in the seeding of new plants.

That was especially true when the forests were untouched by logging and development. Trees within “old-growth forests,” also known as “virgin forests,” have thick bark and well-established roots that make them especially resilient against fire.

Wetter weather usually protects Oregon and Washington somewhat from wildfires becoming massive in size. That wasn’t the case in 2020.

Both states were ravaged by deadly conflagrations, with more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) being scorched in each state. At least 10 people were killed in those fires.

For more than 100 years, Washington’s largest fire on record was the 1902 Yacolt Burn, beaten only in 2014 by the 250,000-acre (100,000-hectare) Carlton fire. The Yacolt record was beaten again last year with the Pearl Hill fire.

While Carlton remains the state’s largest to date, three of the state’s 10 biggest-ever conflagrations occurred in 2020.

Washington’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the

top 10 has changed over time.

Years in top 10

Current 10 largest ranking

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Second

largest

is from

2020

Yacolt fire

Carlton

Tyee fire

Tripod

Fires no longer

in top 10

Pearl Hill

219,000

acres

Yacolt fire of 1902 remained the largest

on record until 2014’s Carlton fire.

Yacolt is now the third largest.

Cold

Springs

Whitney

Washington’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the

top 10 has changed over time.

Years in top 10

Current 10 largest ranking

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Second

largest

is from

2020

Yacolt fire

Carlton

Tyee fire

Tripod

Fires no longer

in top 10

Pearl Hill

219,000

acres

Yacolt fire of 1902 remained the largest

on record until 2014’s Carlton fire.

Yacolt is now the third largest.

Cold

Springs

Whitney

Washington’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Years spent in top 10

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Yacolt fire

251,000 acres

Carlton

Tyee fire ‘94

Tripod ‘06

Second largest

fire on record

is from 2020

Pearl Hill

219,000 acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

Yacolt fire of 1902 remained the largest

on record until 2014’s Carlton fire.

Yacolt is now the third largest.

Cold Springs

162,000 acres

Whitney

125,000 acres

Washington’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Years in top 10

Current 10 largest ranking

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Second

largest

is from

2020

Yacolt fire

Carlton

Tyee fire

Tripod

Fires no longer

in top 10

Pearl Hill

219,000

acres

Yacolt fire of 1902 remained the

largest on record until 2014’s Carlton fire.

Yacolt is now the third largest.

Cold

Springs

Whitney

Oregon’s 10 largest fires on record

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top ten has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

557,000 acres

Long Draw

Saddle Draw

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

3 of the largest

are from 2020

Beachie Creek

Lionshead

Holiday Farm

Washington’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Yacolt fire

Carlton

251,000 acres

Tyee fire ‘94

Tripod ‘06

Second largest

fire on record

is from 2020

Pearl Hill

219,000 acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

Yacolt fire of 1902 remained the largest

on record until 2014’s Carlton fire.

Yacolt is now the third largest.

Cold Springs

162,000 acres

Whitney

125,000 acres

In Oregon, all of the 10 largest fires on record occurred since 2002, including three that burned in 2020.

From all that fire came billowing ash and smoke. As the fires raged in September, Oregon recorded the world’s worst air quality due to wildfire smoke. Doctors saw a rise in the number of emergency room visits, and fielded panicked calls from people who reported having trouble breathing.

Oregon’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

Long

Draw

557,000

acres

Three of the

largest are

from 2020

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

Beachie

Creek

Lionshead

Holiday

Farm

Oregon’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the

top 10 has changed over time.

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

Long

Draw

557,000

acres

Three of the

largest are

from 2020

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

Beachie

Creek

Lionshead

Holiday

Farm

Oregon’s 10 largest fires on record

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

557,000 acres

Long Draw

Saddle Draw

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

3 of the largest

are from 2020

Beachie Creek

Lionshead

Holiday Farm

Oregon’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

Long

Draw

557,000

acres

Three

of the

largest

are from

2020

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

Beachie

Creek

Lionshead

Holiday

Farm

Oregon’s 10 largest fires on record

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

557,000 acres

Long Draw

Saddle Draw

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

3 of the largest

are from 2020

Beachie Creek

Lionshead

Holiday Farm

“If you go back 200 years, we had a lot of fire every year, but it wasn’t of the same intensity” as the fires we’re seeing more recently, said Paul Mason, vice president for policy and incentives at the Pacific Forest Trust.

Today, “we don’t have much old forest left. Everything is young and dense, and so fires just go and go,” Mason said. But “it’s not just that they’re getting bigger — they’re getting more intense.”

Records shattered in California

Since the early 1970s, California’s average summertime temperatures have risen by 1.4 degrees Celsius, making the landscape drier and more flammable. At the same time, the state has seen a five-fold increase in acreage burned, according to research published in July 2019 in the American Geophysical Union.

The dry conditions aren’t limited to summer, either. While much of California has been hit by a prolonged storm in recent days, Southern California began 2021 under conditions so dry that the state had positioned strike teams of firefighters, water-dropping helicopters and other crew and equipment in Los Angeles and other counties by mid-January.

Wildfires last year burned nearly 4.2 million California acres, killing 31 people and destroying 10,488 structures, state records show.

And while fires historically tended to burn low to the ground — eliminating dead tree limbs, keeping competing species in check and prompting pine cones to open and disperse their seeds — there are increasing reports of tree-torching” fires that engulf forests from the ground up through the canopy.

Flames are seen along the east side of Lake Berryessa during the LNU Lighting Complex fire in California, August 19, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Some scientists say global warming may have played a role in triggering a siege of some 14,000 lightning strikes that helped spark many of the fires in mid-August.

The largest — the August Complex — began as dozens of separate fires spawned by lightning that then converged into one massive conflagration between Napa and the Oregon border. In all, the August Complex torched more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares), making it bigger than all California fires from 1932 to 1999 combined.

The fire also became known as California’s first “gigafire,” a term coined by academics to describe fires that burn more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares).

Those lightning strikes had begun amid a sweltering heat wave, during which a record temperature of 130 degrees was recorded in Death Valley, noted David Romps, a climate physicist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Less than a month after the lightning siege came through, we had obliterated the record for total lightning-burned fires,” he said.

More heat draws more moisture into the atmosphere, and also increases the chance of rapid updraft — two key factors needed for charged particles, which lead to lightning. So climate change may be bolstering conditions that produce lightning, Romps said. In fact, he and colleagues published research in 2014 in the journal Science suggesting there is roughly 12% more lightning for every 1 degree C of atmospheric warming.

Romps expects the global number of lightning strikes to increase by 50% by the end of the century.

California’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Three of

the largest

are from

2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Matilija fire

Cedar

August

Complex

1 million

acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

SCU

Lightning

Complex

The 1932 megafire was the

largest on record until 2003.

Now it doesn’t even feature

in the top 10

Creek

North

Complex

Cedar fire was the largest on record

as of 2016 but now sits in 8th place

Cedar

Elkhorn

California’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Three of

the largest

are from

2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Matilija fire

Cedar

August

Complex

1 million

acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

SCU

Lightning

Complex

The 1932 megafire was the

largest on record until 2003.

Now it doesn’t even feature

in the top 10

Creek

North

Complex

Cedar fire was the largest on record

as of 2016 but now sits in 8th place

Cedar

Elkhorn

California’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Matilija fire

Cedar

5 of the largest

fires are from 2020

August Complex

1 million acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

The 1932 megafire was the largest

on record until 2003. Now it doesn’t

even feature in the top 10

SCU Lightning

Complex

Creek

North Complex

Cedar fire was the largest on record

as of 2016 but now sits in 8th place

Cedar

Elkhorn

California’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Three

of the

largest

are from

2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Matilija fire

Cedar

August

Complex

1 million

acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

SCU

Lightning

Complex

The 1932 megafire was the

largest on record until 2003.

Now it doesn’t even feature

in the top 10

Creek

North

Complex

Cedar fire was the largest on record

as of 2016 but now sits in 8th place

Cedar

Elkhorn

Oregon’s 10 largest fires on record

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top ten has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Size

Fires no longer

in top 10

Biscuit

557,000 acres

Long Draw

Saddle Draw

Biscuit fire in 2002 shatters

Oregon’s records and takes

top spot in the list

3 of the largest

are from 2020

Beachie Creek

Lionshead

Holiday Farm

California’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Matilija fire

2003 - Cedar fire

5 of the largest

fires are from 2020

August Complex

1 million acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

The 1932 megafire was the largest

on record until 2003. Now it doesn’t

even feature in the top 10

SCU Lightning

Complex

Creek

North Complex

Cedar fire was the largest on record

as of 2016 but now sits in 8th place

Cedar

Elkhorn

Five of California’s 10 largest wildfires on record have occurred in 2020, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center, analysed by Reuters.

“Fires are not unnatural, but the kind of behaviour and the times, places and conditions they are igniting in are very, very unusual,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, who heads the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, an Oregon-based advocacy group that promotes forest management to mitigate fire risks.

Colorado

It’s not only the West Coast seeing records broken. The three largest wildfires in Colorado’s history occurred in 2020.

The largest, the Cameron Peak fire, burned for 100 days. By the time it was fully contained in early December, it had scorched around 209,000 acres (84,500 hectares), according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center. That’s more than 50% larger than the state’s previous largest fire.

Only 11 miles (17 kilometers) to the south, the second biggest blaze on record, the East Troublesome fire, charred a total of 192,000 acres (78,000 hectares).

The chart below illustrates how Colorado’s 10 largest fires on record were historically small in comparison to recent years.

Colorado’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Largest

three are

in 2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Hayman fire

These fires no

longer in top 10

Cameron

Peak

209,000

acres

Two record-breaking

fires in 2020

Colorado’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Largest

three are

in 2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Hayman fire

These fires no

longer in top 10

Cameron

Peak

209,000

acres

Two record-breaking

fires in 2020

Colorado’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Largest 3 fires

are from 2020

Hayman fire

Cameron Peak

209,000 acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

East Troublesome

Pine Gulch

A destructive 2002 with two

record-breaking fires

Spring Creek

Colorado’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Largest

three are

in 2020

‘70

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

‘20

Hayman fire

These fires no

longer in top 10

Cameron

Peak

209,000

acres

Two record-breaking

fires in 2020

Colorado’s 10 largest fires

Each band represents a fire, showing how its rank in the top 10 has changed over time.

Current 10 largest ranking

1970

'75

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

2020

Largest 3 fires

are from 2020

Hayman fire

Cameron Peak

208,913 acres

Fires no longer

in top 10

East Troublesome

Pine Gulch

A destructive 2002 with two

record-breaking fires

Spring Creek

The 2002 Hayman fire had been Colorado’s only recorded megafire until 2018’s Spring Creek fire. The three big blazes of 2020 were also megafires – the third, fourth and fifth largest on record.

Managing the burn

In California, Mason of the Pacific Forest Trust is working within a coalition of ranchers and conservationists to urge Western states to invest in thinning their forests. They’re also lobbying private landowners, including lumber companies, to leave a portion of their larger, older trees standing.

Forests would be more resilient against fire if they could become more like what they used to be, with wide spaces between trees, open meadows that provide fire breaks, and native species that more readily reseed after a blaze, the group argues.

More controlled burning during wetter, cooler months would also help, with small fires set deliberately to clear forest debris.

Still, restoring forests of the U.S. West to what they looked like before logging and other human activity might be tough, if not impossible, the climate scientist Swain said.

The changing climate is making it too warm and dry in some places for those old-growth trees, which relied on cooler and damper air to thrive.

“It’s not always going to be possible to replace what was lost with what was once there,” he said.

Source

National Interagency Fire Center

By Manas Sharma, Simon Scarr and Sharon Bernstein

Editing by Katy Daigle and Lisa Shumaker