Wildfires are hugely complex events, complicated by human activity, including rampant development and decades of fire suppression strategies that left too much dry timber and underbrush for fires to burn.
Add the effects of climate change to the mix, and California's already fire-prone landscape grows increasingly combustible.
What's the link between fires & climate change?
An increasing body of research finds that the hot and dry conditions that created the California drought were brought on in part by human-caused warming.
Higher temperatures pull moisture out of soil and vegetation, leaving parched landscapes that can go up in flames with the slightest spark from a downed utility wire, backfiring car or embers from a campfire.
California's average temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the second half of the 20th century. Altogether this has led to more "fuel aridity"—drier tree canopies, grasses and brush that can burn.
"There's a clear climate signal in these fires because of the drought conditions connected to climate change," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.
Hot, Dry Years Becoming More Common in California
"As long as there's fuel to burn, your chances of having large fires increases when you increase temperatures. It's that simple," said Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.
Read more at 4 Questions About Climate Change and the California Fires
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