2009 California wildfires

2009 California wildfires
Detail from a MODIS satellite image of the Station Fire, on August 29, 2009.
Statistics
Total fires	9,159
Total area	405,585 acres (1,641.34 km2)
Injuries	At least 134
Fatalities	4 firefighters
Season
← 2008 2010 →

The 2009 California wildfires were a series of 8,291 wildfires that were active in the state of California, USA, during the year 2009. The fires burned more than 404,601 acres (632 sq mi; 1,637 km²) of land from early February through late November, due to Red Flag conditions, destroying hundreds of structures, injuring 134 people, and killing two. The wildfires also caused at least $134.48 million (2009 USD) in damage. Although the fires burned many different regions of California in August, the month was especially notable for several very large fires which burned in Southern California, despite being outside of the normal fire season for that region.

The Station Fire, north of Los Angeles, was the largest and deadliest of these wildfires. It began in late August, and resulted in the devastation of 160,577 acres (251 sq mi; 650 km²) of land as well as the death of two firefighters. Another large fire was the La Brea Fire, which burned nearly 90,000 acres (141 sq mi; 364 km²) in Santa Barbara County earlier in the month. A state of emergency was also declared for the 7,800 acres (12 sq mi; 32 km²) Lockheed Fire in Santa Cruz County to the north.

Below is a list of all fires that exceeded 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) during the 2009 fire season. The list is taken from CAL FIREs list of large fires".

Invasive, non-native vegetation dies and re-sprouts year after year creating an unnatural buildup of dead plant material. While periodic fires are natural, and many native plants depend upon fire to reproduce; the intensity and frequency of these fires is altered by the presence of non-natives.

In Southern California, the normal wildfire season begins in October with the arrival of the infamous Santa Ana winds, and it is unusual to see fires spread so rapidly at other times of year. However, temperatures throughout the southern part of the state exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) for much of late August. The combination of high temperatures, low humidity and a large quantity of tinder-dry fuel, some of which had not burnt for decades, allowed some of the normal fires to quickly explode out of control despite the lack of winds to spread the flames. These conditions, along with extreme terrain in many undeveloped areas that slowed access to burn areas, made firefighting difficult.