Since October 8, more than a dozen large wildfires have burned across Northern California. Dozens of schools closed and thousands of people fled their homes, many of which caught fire. At least 23 people are dead and hundreds more are missing.
The fires started late at night and spread quickly. In the first 48 hours, the blazes consumed more than 100,000 acres of land—an area about four times larger than that of San Francisco, California. High winds made the fires difficult to contain, and many people had little warning before disaster struck. Two days after the fires began, President Donald Trump declared the affected areas a federal disaster zone, which would free up government funds.
Conditions were ripe for wildfires this year. Dead, dry plants burn easily, says Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “We saw a lot of plant growth over a very wet winter,” he says. “But a summer drought killed much of that growth, providing fuel for the fires.”