Wildfires burn record 2.3M acres in California, state leaders brace for months ahead

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KRON) – California is having a record wildfire season with more than two million acres burned already.

With still months left in what’s considered California’s traditional fire season, the firefight is far from over.

So far this year, 2.3 million acres burned from more than 7,500 fires compared to 118,000 acres burned by this time last year.

“It’s extraordinary, the challenge that we’ve faced so far this season,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.

The governor said there are 900 active wildfires — 25 of them major including the second, third and fourth largest wildfires in the state’s modern history.

Eight people have died and now more than 42,000 people are now forced from their homes.

While this record fire season rages on in September, in the last few years, some of the state’s most destructive fires happened in October and November.

“I say this lovingly, not as an ideologue, but someone who prides himself open to argument and interested in evidence, but I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers,” Newsom said.

With wildfires, record heat and a pandemic, the governor was asked what the state is prioritizing ahead of it all.

“We are prioritizing and addressing the immediate needs as it relates to those who have been evacuated and those potentially impacted by these wildfires,” Newsom said.

The governor says with wildfires also burning in other parts of the West Coast.

He’s confident resources will remain available at the state and federal level.

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