Fire Season

Come September, October, and November, it is fire season in California. Someplace is going to burn. We just don’t know where. Wildfires across the state are starting earlier and ending later. The connection to climate change is key to this trend. Drought conditions and fiercer winds, combined with warmer temperatures and stressed vegetation, lead to more intense wildfires. I created Fire Season in the autumn of 2020 as wildfires raged across eleven Northern California counties. Charred leaves fell while ash and smoke filled the air of a region connected by a growing fear of fire season.