The Californian Wildfires of 2016 could get huge. California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) calls the disaster that started in Monterey County the Soberanes fire. It’s now known to have started on July 22, 2016 at an estimated 8:48 AM when a campfire near the Soberanes Canyon Trail got out of control. The incendiary incident shouldn’t be confused with a second brush fire near LA: the Sand Fire, which simultaneously burned around 40,000 acres and ominously greyed the local sky before millions of urban onlookers.
As of today (8-6-2016), it has burned over 350 square miles, torching around 57 homes, 16 additional structures and killing 8, including a firefighter. If winds weren’t nearly calm at night over the last two weeks, more harm could have come. Around 5,550 committed firefighters are responsible for having contained 35% of the blaze, which is burning parts of Soberanes Creek, Garrapata State Park and Palo Colorado, just north of Big Sur.
Beetle Infestation
Beyond being brushfire season, an unprecedented bark-beetle infestation has been responsible for the destruction of over 66 million trees since 2010, tilting natural balances which have helped to set the stage for the abnormal sizes and frequencies of the wildfires of recent.
Looking into the future, the Soberanes fire may still quadruple in size and is expected to persist throughout August. The estimated threat could harm another 20,000 homes, potentially forcing damage estimates from the millions to the hundreds of millions.
Over the next week, it will be hot and dry but a predominately southerly flow in the Pacific will keep winds terrestrial and wind speeds low, which should help to contain the catastrophe.
Written by Meteorologist Geoff Linsley