This chart shows the spiralling costs of California's wildfires

Sep 16, 2020

With the collaboration of Statista.

A firefighter works to extinguish the Bobcat Fire after an evacuation was ordered for the residents of Arcadia, California, U.S., September 13, 2020. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon - RC20YI9T4GX5

Every year a new record is set for numbers of acres burnt or money spent containing the California fires. Image: REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon

Martin Armstrong

Data Journalist, Statista

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This data from California's firefighters shows how expenditure on putting out fires has grown over the last 40 years.
This year saw 2.3 million acres scorched by 7,606 fires.
Over the last decade fire suppression cost 16 times as much as it did during the 1980s.

By around this time last year, 118 thousand acres had been burned by 4,927 wildfires in California. So far in 2020 this figure is at an astounding 2.3 million acres caused by 7,606 fires. Before this, 2018 had held the record for the amount of land burned, with close to 900 thousand acres affected.

As this infographic shows, the costs of wildfires in California have escalated significantly over the last four decades. Average annual California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection expenditure for its fire suppression emergency fund from 79/80 to 88/89 was $25 million, while from 09/10 to 18/19, the figure had risen to $401 million.

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And rising... Image: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

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