Crews are making progress on a fire burning between Gorman and Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles and Ventura counties despite high temperatures and wind. The Post Fire began Saturday. It has already burned 15,611 acres and caused three injuries. As of Tuesday morning, it was 24% contained.
Another blaze broke out Sunday afternoon around 50 miles east near Lancaster. Dubbed the Max Fire, it has consumed 338 acres with 0% containment.
“This is a taste of what’s to come,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles, told The New York Times.
Record rainfall over the past two years has created thick vegetation. That vegetation has begun drying out from a hotter-than-usual spring, turning it into the perfect fuel for wildfires.
“Even though dryness levels are not record-breaking at this point, what is anomalous is just how much fuel there is,” Swain added.
Up north near Healdsburg firefighters are battling a blaze that has destroyed several structures. Sonoma County’s Point Fire had burned 1,207 acres and was 20% contained as of Tuesday morning.
Other active fires in the state include the Aero Fire, which has burned 5,400 acres in Calaveras, and the Sites Fire in Colusa, which has burned 10,000.