http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

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California fire officials urge the public to remain vigilant, given the ongoing drought. In 2021, there have been more than 8,500 wildfires that burned nearly 3 million acres, which is less than burned in 2020, but was still a very strenuous fire season. San Francisco Chronicle (Calif.), Dec 7, 2021 The number of wildfires in California and the land burned continued to run ahead of last year’s numbers, which was a record year in terms of land burned. From the start of 2021 through July 4, 4,599 fires blackened 114.8 square miles (297 square kilometers), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Associated Press (N.Y.), July 7, 2021 California fire activity was ahead of last year’s record fire season, leading Gov. Gavin Newsom to propose spending a record $2 billion on wildfire mitigation, which is twice what he proposed in January. Since the start of the year, more than 2,600 fires burned 24 square miles, or nearly five times more land than at this point last year. Associated Press (New York, N.Y.), May 24, 2021 With the warm, dry spring, Cal Fire has reported more than 1,800 fires charring nearly 9,400 acres since the start of 2021, more than double the five-year average. San Francisco Chronicle, May 11, 2021 As California wildfire officials anticipated anther historic fire season, fire activity and the burned area were already higher than in 2020. Since the start of the year, more than 1,950 fires have blackened more than 20 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In 2020, more than 6,390 square miles burned in 10,431 wildfires, as tallied by NIFC, for the worst fire season recorded in California. The Weather Channel (Atlanta, Ga.), May 6, 2021 In a busy start to the fire season, 297 wildfires in California blackened 1,171 acres statewide on nonfederal lands, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. This count is more than double the number of blazes seen in January 2020, a historic year for wildfires in the Golden State. The five-year average for January is 108 fires, with 58 acres burned, according to Cal Fire. USA Today (McLean, Va.), Feb. 3, 2021