although California is familiar with
wildfires the state has been riddled
with unprecedented problems throughout
2015
welcome to watchmojo.com n’t we’re
counting down ten crucial facts you
should know about the California
wildfires number 10 what are the
California wildfires in September 2015
California and the western US in general
were in the midst of an exceptionally
hot and dry period the California
wildfires were sparked as a direct
result of these weather conditions and
they raged from June to September 2015
and beyond September in fact saw some of
the largest most destructive fires
mainly the Butte fire which began on
September 9th and the valley fire which
began on the 12th Butte and Valley
combined have scorched through close to
150 acres of land number nine how much
damage have the wildfires caused since
the area they effected was so huge the
damage brought about by the Butte and
Valley fires is largely unparalleled in
modern state history as of mid September
2015 the valley disaster had destroyed
close to 900 homes while Butte had
burned over 530 residences to the ground
over 20,000 people had been displaced
and those figures were expected to rise
the damage to farmland was also
extensive and economically crippling for
some families and businesses by
mid-september California had also lost
about 700,000 acres of previously
farmable land because of drought and
fire and over 8,000 jobs within the
agriculture sector ik waiting to around
1.8 billion dollars number eight how
many people are affected not only did
the fires make tens of thousands of
people homeless they also proved fatal
as of mid September 2015
three people had been killed in the
valley fire and a further two victims
had been claimed
in the Butte fire the 15,000
firefighters working to contain the
blazes had achieved some success however
with Valley 35% contained and Butte 49%
as of the 18th of that same month the
overriding aim was to stop the spread of
the fires so that no one else would lose
their property livelihoods or lives
unfortunately a mixture of continually
dry weather and fairly unpredictable
wind patterns meant that the ongoing
threat remained severe number seven
which areas have been affected though
California proved to be the most notably
affected state the fire’s tore through
huge sections of America’s West while
even creeping over the border into
Canada over eight million acres of land
had been affected as of the beginning of
September 2015 an area larger than the
state of Maryland with around 60 fires
raging at any one time
California was joined by Oregon
Washington Idaho Montana and even Alaska
heading further north into Canada the
southwestern provinces were also
affected with large-scale fires burning
in the provinces of Saskatchewan Alberta
and British Columbia beginning in July
of 2015 number 6 how will the wildfires
affect the wine industry one of the more
specific economic concerns relating to
the wildfires in California surrounded
the state’s wine industry California is
responsible for 90% of the United States
wine production and in 2014 it sold over
24 billion dollars in wine but some
vineyards became inaccessible in 2015
because of evacuation orders and the
damage was only set to increase should
the actual fire spread onto specific
vineyards the problem for wine producers
concerned the duration of the evacuation
as of mid September 2015
some companies still had up to 80% of
their grapes on the vine and were
desperate to gain access as quickly as
possible in order to begin the harvest
process if left too long the ripening
schedule would be put out of sync smoke
would likely damage the plants and huge
amounts of grapes would be wasted
number five how much have the wildfires
cost the state of California
California’s agriculture sector was
expected to lose around 1.8 billion
dollars in 2015 all told and that was
according to conservative predictions
some forecasts claimed that when taking
into account more indirect losses as
well that figure could rise by almost a
billion to 2.7 billion as of mid August
2015 it had been estimated that close to
600 million dollars had already been
spent pumping groundwater reserves
around 900 million had been lost
directly through crop waste and a
further 350 million had been sized away
from the dairy and livestock industries
however agriculture is a large part of
California’s economy and the state is
expected to recover the loss represented
just one tenth of one percent of
California’s total annual economic
output and around five percent of its
approximately forty five billion dollar
agricultural industry number four why
has 2015 been extra damaging California
and Western North America are not
unaccustomed to wildfires in fact
there’s an annual fire season for which
state preparations are made however
since records began only six other years
have seen over 8 million acres of land
burned nationwide and all of those years
have fallen within the 21st century as
of September the 2015 figures looked set
to outstrip those for 2006 the worst
year ever recorded with more than 9.8
million acres consumed commentators
attributed 2015 severity to a dangerous
combination of extremely dry land caused
by unrelenting heat and extremely low
water supplies California’s desert scrub
was set to be as quote dry as kindling
making fires easy to light and spread
while the state reservoirs were said to
be holding less than half of their
typical volume of water number three how
bad has the drought been in short
California’s drought has rewritten its
record books in January 2015
Governor Jerry Brown declared
drought state of emergency as the issue
headed into its fourth consecutive year
and by early May authorities had imposed
unprecedented water usage restrictions
on residents rivers and lakes appeared
to be literally disappearing and state
snowpack levels which is the snow
covering the Sierra Nevada that normally
provides California with water had been
reduced to five percent of what it
usually is the lowest level experienced
in half a millennium according to an
american geophysical union accepted
study the general climate conditions in
California during its four-year drought
were the worst in 1,200 years number two
how our citizens handling the drought in
general there was an unrivaled effort to
preserve water although high statistical
targets were often missed there was also
a very real need for the agricultural
sector to find alternative ways of
working especially as there were
indications that similar disasters are
likely to occur in the future
drilling for groundwater has become a
hugely important business as farmers
anxiously look underground with less and
less obtainable from the Earth’s surface
in some areas drills have bored more
than 1500 feet tapping water millions of
years old no water higher our cost
higher it is for milk and it just kind
of trickles down I don’t even know if
we’re gonna get water out of it it’s
just a risk you take basically I guess a
desperate measure in desperate times the
water is sometimes so rich in unknown
minerals that it’s actually killing
crops itself or mutating their future
growth number one how is this related to
climate change with 2015 marking
California’s fourth year of drought
there were real concerns regarding the
lack of water and what that could mean
for the future of the state as it
continues to battle the ever spreading
wildfires this of course brings up the
question of climate change and whether
or not it’s related to the drought
itself and the subsequent fires while
the American Meteorological Society
found no conclusive connection between
California’s plight and climate change
there is continual evidence showing that
rising temperatures have resulted in
overlapping dry periods
that four year period on America’s West
Coast proved an especially damaging
example of the power of Mother Nature
did these facts get you thinking to vote
for which news story is covered next
head over to watchmojo.com slash suggest
and be sure to hit that subscribe button
for more newsworthy top 10s published
every week
wildfires the state has been riddled
with unprecedented problems throughout
2015
welcome to watchmojo.com n’t we’re
counting down ten crucial facts you
should know about the California
wildfires number 10 what are the
California wildfires in September 2015
California and the western US in general
were in the midst of an exceptionally
hot and dry period the California
wildfires were sparked as a direct
result of these weather conditions and
they raged from June to September 2015
and beyond September in fact saw some of
the largest most destructive fires
mainly the Butte fire which began on
September 9th and the valley fire which
began on the 12th Butte and Valley
combined have scorched through close to
150 acres of land number nine how much
damage have the wildfires caused since
the area they effected was so huge the
damage brought about by the Butte and
Valley fires is largely unparalleled in
modern state history as of mid September
2015 the valley disaster had destroyed
close to 900 homes while Butte had
burned over 530 residences to the ground
over 20,000 people had been displaced
and those figures were expected to rise
the damage to farmland was also
extensive and economically crippling for
some families and businesses by
mid-september California had also lost
about 700,000 acres of previously
farmable land because of drought and
fire and over 8,000 jobs within the
agriculture sector ik waiting to around
1.8 billion dollars number eight how
many people are affected not only did
the fires make tens of thousands of
people homeless they also proved fatal
as of mid September 2015
three people had been killed in the
valley fire and a further two victims
had been claimed
in the Butte fire the 15,000
firefighters working to contain the
blazes had achieved some success however
with Valley 35% contained and Butte 49%
as of the 18th of that same month the
overriding aim was to stop the spread of
the fires so that no one else would lose
their property livelihoods or lives
unfortunately a mixture of continually
dry weather and fairly unpredictable
wind patterns meant that the ongoing
threat remained severe number seven
which areas have been affected though
California proved to be the most notably
affected state the fire’s tore through
huge sections of America’s West while
even creeping over the border into
Canada over eight million acres of land
had been affected as of the beginning of
September 2015 an area larger than the
state of Maryland with around 60 fires
raging at any one time
California was joined by Oregon
Washington Idaho Montana and even Alaska
heading further north into Canada the
southwestern provinces were also
affected with large-scale fires burning
in the provinces of Saskatchewan Alberta
and British Columbia beginning in July
of 2015 number 6 how will the wildfires
affect the wine industry one of the more
specific economic concerns relating to
the wildfires in California surrounded
the state’s wine industry California is
responsible for 90% of the United States
wine production and in 2014 it sold over
24 billion dollars in wine but some
vineyards became inaccessible in 2015
because of evacuation orders and the
damage was only set to increase should
the actual fire spread onto specific
vineyards the problem for wine producers
concerned the duration of the evacuation
as of mid September 2015
some companies still had up to 80% of
their grapes on the vine and were
desperate to gain access as quickly as
possible in order to begin the harvest
process if left too long the ripening
schedule would be put out of sync smoke
would likely damage the plants and huge
amounts of grapes would be wasted
number five how much have the wildfires
cost the state of California
California’s agriculture sector was
expected to lose around 1.8 billion
dollars in 2015 all told and that was
according to conservative predictions
some forecasts claimed that when taking
into account more indirect losses as
well that figure could rise by almost a
billion to 2.7 billion as of mid August
2015 it had been estimated that close to
600 million dollars had already been
spent pumping groundwater reserves
around 900 million had been lost
directly through crop waste and a
further 350 million had been sized away
from the dairy and livestock industries
however agriculture is a large part of
California’s economy and the state is
expected to recover the loss represented
just one tenth of one percent of
California’s total annual economic
output and around five percent of its
approximately forty five billion dollar
agricultural industry number four why
has 2015 been extra damaging California
and Western North America are not
unaccustomed to wildfires in fact
there’s an annual fire season for which
state preparations are made however
since records began only six other years
have seen over 8 million acres of land
burned nationwide and all of those years
have fallen within the 21st century as
of September the 2015 figures looked set
to outstrip those for 2006 the worst
year ever recorded with more than 9.8
million acres consumed commentators
attributed 2015 severity to a dangerous
combination of extremely dry land caused
by unrelenting heat and extremely low
water supplies California’s desert scrub
was set to be as quote dry as kindling
making fires easy to light and spread
while the state reservoirs were said to
be holding less than half of their
typical volume of water number three how
bad has the drought been in short
California’s drought has rewritten its
record books in January 2015
Governor Jerry Brown declared
drought state of emergency as the issue
headed into its fourth consecutive year
and by early May authorities had imposed
unprecedented water usage restrictions
on residents rivers and lakes appeared
to be literally disappearing and state
snowpack levels which is the snow
covering the Sierra Nevada that normally
provides California with water had been
reduced to five percent of what it
usually is the lowest level experienced
in half a millennium according to an
american geophysical union accepted
study the general climate conditions in
California during its four-year drought
were the worst in 1,200 years number two
how our citizens handling the drought in
general there was an unrivaled effort to
preserve water although high statistical
targets were often missed there was also
a very real need for the agricultural
sector to find alternative ways of
working especially as there were
indications that similar disasters are
likely to occur in the future
drilling for groundwater has become a
hugely important business as farmers
anxiously look underground with less and
less obtainable from the Earth’s surface
in some areas drills have bored more
than 1500 feet tapping water millions of
years old no water higher our cost
higher it is for milk and it just kind
of trickles down I don’t even know if
we’re gonna get water out of it it’s
just a risk you take basically I guess a
desperate measure in desperate times the
water is sometimes so rich in unknown
minerals that it’s actually killing
crops itself or mutating their future
growth number one how is this related to
climate change with 2015 marking
California’s fourth year of drought
there were real concerns regarding the
lack of water and what that could mean
for the future of the state as it
continues to battle the ever spreading
wildfires this of course brings up the
question of climate change and whether
or not it’s related to the drought
itself and the subsequent fires while
the American Meteorological Society
found no conclusive connection between
California’s plight and climate change
there is continual evidence showing that
rising temperatures have resulted in
overlapping dry periods
that four year period on America’s West
Coast proved an especially damaging
example of the power of Mother Nature
did these facts get you thinking to vote
for which news story is covered next
head over to watchmojo.com slash suggest
and be sure to hit that subscribe button
for more newsworthy top 10s published
every week
Please follow and like us: