Gigafire: California's monster blaze continues to grow

The August Complex Fire burns near Lake Pillsbury in the Mendocino National Forest, California, last month. Photo / AP file

The staggering scale of California's wildfires reached another milestone today: A single fire surpassed 1 million acres (404,600ha).

The new mark for the August Complex in the Coast Range between San Francisco and the Oregon border came a day after the total area of land burned by California wildfires this year passed 4 million acres (1.6 million ha), more than double the previous record.

Governor Gavin Newsom said the amount of land scorched by the August Complex is larger than all of the recorded fires in California between 1932 and 1999.

"If that's not proof point, testament, to climate change, then I don't know what is," Newsom said.

The August Complex began as dozens of fires ignited by lightning in the Mendocino National Forest in mid-August and became California's largest fire on record in September. As of today, it covered nearly 4,055 sq km.

"Gigafire” is now part of the history books. https://t.co/ur68Mi7ROa

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) October 5, 2020

Since the beginning of the year, more than 8200 California wildfires have scorched "well over 4 million acres," the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said yesterday. There have been 31 deaths and nearly 8700 buildings have been destroyed, the Governor said.

Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists say climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable.

Mike Flannigan, who directs the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science at Canada's University of Alberta, says the escalation of fires in California and the US West is "largely, not solely, due to human-caused climate change."

The August Complex has destroyed 242 structures and damaged a half dozen. One firefighter has died and one has been injured. Containment was estimated at 54 per cent today.

California remains largely warm and dry but fierce winds that fanned infernos a week ago were gone. Cooling at the coast was expected to expand into the interior and a Pacific storm system remained in the forecast for Northern California by next weekend.

- AP