The 2018 wildfire season in California was the deadliest and most destructive on record. Fueled by large amounts of dead trees, high winds, and accidental ignitions from power lines, over 8,500 fires burned nearly 2 million acres. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise and was the costliest disaster of 2018. Despite prevention efforts, more homes are being built in high risk areas, leading to greater damage. Future strategies include maintaining fuel breaks and placing power lines underground. Federal agencies supported state recovery through debris removal and flexibility for health services.

1. WILDFIRE SEASON
Case Study on
CALIFORNIA wildfire 2018
Abu B Kurian
M plan (HU)

2. What is wilde fire season?
“The term ‘Fire Season’ is a period of time when, due
to climate and weather patterns, wildland fires are
likely to occur, spread, and affect resource values
sufficient to warrant organized fire management
activities”
Texas Forest Service’s predictive services department

3. The 2018 wildfire season
involves wildfires on multiple
continents. By the end of the
calendar year, the fires in British
Columbia had burned more area
than in any prior recorded year;
and California experienced the
single largest (by area) fire on
record, and a fire destroyed more
structures than in any other in
modern history.
Americas
o 2018 British Columbia wildfires
o 2018 California wildfires
o 2018 Montana wildfires
o 2018 Nevada wildfires
o 2018 Oregon wildfires
o 2018 Utah wildfires
o 2018 Washington wildfires
Asia
o 2018 Russian wildfires
Europe
o 2018 Attica wildfires (Greece)
o 2018 Sweden wildfires
o 2018 United Kingdom wildfires
Oceania
o 2017–18 Australian bushfire

4. 2018 California
wildfires
The 2018 wildfire season was the
deadliest and most destructive
wildfire season on record in
California, with a total of 8,527
fires burning an area of 1,893,913
acres (766,439 ha).
Damages
$3.5 billion in
damages
$1.792 billion
in fire
suppression
Fatalities
85 civilians
6 fire fighters

5. Brief Time Line for 2018
Mid July-
August
• a series of large wildfires erupted
across California, mostly in the
northern part of the state
• Carr Fire, Mendocino Complex
Fire
August 4,
2018
• a national disaster was declared
in Northern California, due to the
extensive wildfires
November
2018
• strong winds aggravated
conditions in another round of
large, destructive fires that
occurred across the state.
• Woolsey Fire, Camp Fire

6. Satellite Imagery

7. Rapid Response System image NASA
Effect of Santa Ana wind

8. The three ingredients of a wildfire
 Fuel (the vegetation that burns)
 Ignition (sources can be human, either accidental or arson, or from lightning)
 Weather (hot, dry, windy weather is what make fires grow and also really hard to put out)
Fuel
• By December
2017, there
was a record
129 million
dead trees in
California
Ignition
• Accidental fire
ignition cause
95% of the
wildfires in
California
• The major
source of
wildfire in
2018 was
found to be
overhead
power lines
Weather
• Strong wind
• Dry climate
• Climate Change
• For every 1° rise in
temperature, 15%
additional
precipitation is
required to
mitigate effect of
evapotranspiration

9. A wildland–urban interface (or WUI) refers to the zone of transition between unoccupied land and human
development. Communities that are within 0.80 km of the zone may also be included. These lands and
communities adjacent to and surrounded by wildlands are at risk of wildfires. Since the 1990s, over 43% of
new residential buildings have been constructed in this area in California.
Santa Rosa, CA
Role of Housing crisis in Damages

10. Disaster management
Organisations Involved
o California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection (Cal Fire)
o National Interagency Fire Center
(NIFC)
o California National Guard
o California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation
o The Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
o Health & Human Services Agency
(HHS)
Preparedness
o 21 administrative units state wide
o 812 fire stations (237 state and 575
local government)
o 39 conservation camps
o 3 training centers
o 12 air attack bases and 10 helitack
bases that allow aircraft to reach
most fires within 20 minutes or less.
Prevention
o Fire and resource assessment program
o Office of the State Fire Marshal fire safety codes
o Cal Fire Law Enforcement Program

11. Response: Camp Fire, Paradise, CA
world's costliest natural disaster in 2018
 Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)
notified customers two days before event
about shutting down power due to high wind
and humidity. (NOV 6)
 National weather service issued a red flag
warning for Northern California’s interior
and Southern California.
 PG&E reports fire near Poe Dam area (NOV
8)
 10 minutes later, first units of fire fighters
arrived. Fire force request for resources and
evacuation
 Due to winds, aircrafts where delayed for
over 5 hours. Next day the entire town of
Paradise was evacuated due to
uncontrollable fire
 By November 15, 5,596 firefighters, 622
engines, 75 water tenders, 101 fire crews,
103 bulldozers, and 24 helicopters from all
over the Western United States were
deployed.
 90% of fire was contained by NOV 22
The Camp Fire as seen from the Landsat 8
satellite on November 8, 2018
CA after 100% fire containment
Time Magazine

12. California wild fire 2018 Recovery
FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance has
been made available to the state of California to
supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in
the areas affected by wildfires
HHS declared a public health emergency in
California due to the wildfires. This declaration
provides HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services beneficiaries and their healthcare providers
and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting
emergency health needs created by the wildfires.
Regional emergency coordinators (RECs) have been
deployed to coordinate with state and local health
authorities and emergency response officials.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Disaster
Information Management Research Center
(DIMRC) has compiled resources to assist recovery
from the latest California wildfires.
Paradise debris clean up map; Bureau of Land
Management, CA

13. Conclusions
• People start wild fire : Mike Flannigan (Professor of wild fire,
University of Alberta)
• Despite various administrative measures implemented to prevent
housing development in fire prone areas, the housing crisis and lack
of land is pushing people to construct and live in hazardous zones.
• A buffer of open land between potential fuel (forest of dead trees)
and habitat must be planned and maintained mandatorily in wild fire
prone areas. This could be in the form of play grounds, or stadium
etc.
• Overhead powerlines has to be safely laid or replaced with
underground power lines.
• People should be aware of dangers of accidental fire ignition and
take measures to avoid that.

14. Reference
 www.cbs8.com
 news.nnlm.gov
 www.express.co.uk
 www.nytimes.com
 en.wikipedia.org
 Verge science
 calfire.ca.gov