(5 Oct 2020) The staggering scale of California's wildfires reached another milestone Monday: A single fire surpassed 1 million acres.
The new mark for the August Complex in the Coast Range between San Francisco and the Oregon border came a day after the total area of land burned by California wildfires this year passed 4 million acres, more than double the previous record.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the amount of land scorched by the August Complex is larger than all of the recorded fires in California between 1932 and 1999.
“If that’s not proof point, testament, to climate change, then I don’t know what is," Newsom said.
The August Complex began as dozens of fires ignited by lightning in the Mendocino National Forest in mid-August and became California's largest fire on record in September.
As of Monday, it covered nearly 1,566 square miles (4,055 square kilometers).
Since the beginning of the year, more than 8,200 California wildfires have scorched “well over 4 million acres” or 6,250 square miles, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Sunday in a statement.
There have been 31 deaths and nearly 8,700 buildings have been destroyed, the governor said.
Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.
Scientists say climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable.
Mike Flannigan, who directs the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science at Canada’s University of Alberta, says the escalation of fires in California and the U.S. West is “largely, not solely, due to human-caused climate change.”
The August Complex has destroyed 242 structures and damaged a half dozen. One firefighter has died and one has been injured. Containment was estimated at 54% on Monday.
California remains largely warm and dry but fierce winds that fanned infernos a week ago were gone.
Cooling at the coast was expected to expand into the interior and a Pacific storm system remained in the forecast for Northern California by next weekend.

Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: instagram.com/APNews/

You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/38d3a0bd3954473ba657b3c935c2e7a0

• Millions of acres scorched in record Calif. fires ( Download)
• Nearly 4 Million Acres Of California Burned In Record Wildfire Season | TODAY ( Download)
• Local Matters: Record-breaking wildfires in California have burned over 3 million acres ( Download)
• California Sets Record With 2 Million Acres Burned as Crews Battle More ( Download)
• Over 2 million acres have burned in California -- and fire season is just beginning ( Download)
• 3.9 million acres burned in California wildfires ( Download)
• California: Wildfires have burned record 2m acres of land this year, and could get worse | 5 News ( Download)
• California’s Grim Milestone: 4 Million Acres Burned In Wildfires ( Download)
• 2 million acres burned in California wildfires ( Download)
• Over 1 Million Acres Burned as California Fights Biggest Fires in State History ( Download)
• West Coast wildfires still scorching millions of acres ( Download)
• California wildfires: Record-setting 3.7 million acres burned ( Download)
• California milestone: 4 million acres burned in wildfires ( Download)
• California Wildfires: Record Number of Acres Have Burned With Worst Still to Come ( Download)
• California fire sets record with two million acres burned ( Download)