Southern California is under siege from multiple wildfires, fueled by extreme heat and the fiercest Santa Ana winds to hit the region in a decade.
Last week, the Thomas Fire — the largest and most destructive fire currently raging in the region — grew to 250,000 acres and claimed the life of a young fire engineer. This week, the blaze continues to spread across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties despite Herculean efforts to contain it.
Governor Jerry Brown called this “the new normal,” speaking at The New York Times’ ClimateTECH conference in San Francisco late last month. “California is burning up,” he said. “The fire season is not a couple of months in the summer; it’s virtually year-round.”
