California Environment & Hazard Risk

The Camp Fire began on the morning of November 8, 2018, by Camp Creek Road, near Pulga in Butte County. The fire was not fully contained until November 25. This fire was the most destructive wildfire in California history, destroying much of the city of Paradise, the community of Concow, and damaging the towns of Pulga and Magalia. There were 18,804 structures destroyed, 13,696 of them single homes, along with 514 commercial structures and 3,718 outbuildings and 153,336 acres burned. There were a total of 86 deaths from the fire, with 12 civilians and 5 firefighters injured. There were 3 people missing as of 1/24/2019, when Butte County Sheriff closed their missing persons call center for the Camp Fire. Damage costs to insured buildings has been estimated to be at least $10 billion. |Conditions which lead to this fire included several recent years with drought conditions, late spring rainfall bringing additional growth of grass for fuel, dry weather for seven months prior to the fire, very low humidity due to several north wind events, record dry fuel and gusty northeast winds the day of the fire. Local wind gusts to 40 to 50 mph were measured nearby at Jarbo Gap, with a peak...

The Carr Fire began on the afternoon of July 23, 2018, at the intersection of Highway 299 and Carr Powerhouse Road, near French Gulch in Shasta County. The fire is reported to have been started accidentally by a vehicle towing a trailer that had a tire blow out, causing the steel rim to scrape along the pavement, generating sparks that ignited dry vegetation along the edge of the highway. Local winds generated by the fire are reported to have caused the fire to spread quickly.||At the end of July, the fire was the sixth most destructive fire in California history at 112,888 acres, with 1,378 structures destroyed, 965 of them homes. The fire was not fully contained until August 30, reaching 229,651 acres in size with a total of 1,079 residences, 22 commercial structures, 503 outbuildings destroyed. There were also 190 residences, 26 commercial structures, and 61 outbuildings damaged. About 38,000 people were evacuated from their homes. There were a total of 8 deaths from the fire, 3 of them firefighters. A large fire whirl in Redding has been reported as being responsible for 4 of the deaths, and this has been listed as a separate event. Damage costs to insured buildings are...

Intense rainfall generated a large and deadly mud and debris flow in the community of Montecito, around the burn scar of the Thomas fire. Automated rain gauges in the area indicated very intense rainfall, reaching as high as 0.54 inches in 5 minutes. The intense rainfall resulted in a mud and debris estimated to be 15 feet high. This event resulted in the confirmed deaths of 21 residents (2 missing) as well as destroying 128 residences and damaging 307 others. Highway 101 was closed for days due to the mud and debris.

A mass evacuation of over 180000 people located downstream of Oroville Dam was ordered for a possible flash flood, due to the projected near failure of the emergency spillway. The emergency spillway was used when the main spillway was discovered to have suffered severe erosion during releases back on and around February 7th. Releases from Lake Oroville had been increased due to rising lake levels due to inflow from heavy rains.||A presidential disaster declaration provided $274 million for emergency response costs from Feb. 7 though the end of May. The money targeted stabilizing the emergency and main spillways, as well as debris removal and work on the downed Hyatt Powerplant. A bid for long term repairs to the spillway was accepted at $275 million. Together, these total $549 million, though final costs could be much higher.

Major flash flooding occurred throughout Death Valley National Park. Four hundred miles of NPS roads were damaged or destroyed, in addition to other roads maintained by the county and state. About 1000 feet of fresh water lines were destroyed at Furnace Creek. Damage to most structures was minimized or prevented by berms and other protections. The exact start and end times are unknown.

Estimated 100 mph gusts near Yosemite Valley toppled several trees knocking out power to nearly all of Yosemite Park for several days. In addition, several structures were damaged by the winds and the park was closed for several days. The repairs required for Yosemite National Park from this wind event are exepcted to exceed $200 million.