COVER STORY - CALIFORNIA 2020
The Missoula Fire Lab Quilters won the 2014 USDA Arts and Agriculture Competition Grand Prize from over 300 entries submitted from across the USDA. The winning quilt, made in 2010, commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab. The central pieced pictorial depicts an ecosystem before fire, during fire, and after fire. The outer blocks represent various scientific advances from the Fire Lab. The four corner blocks tie the quilt to the traditional quilting arts.
CALIFORNIA 2020:
Worst Fire Season Ever, Again. Now What? An effort to dissect the California Fire Quilt BY JOAQUIN RAMIREZ,
Wildland Fire Technologist, principal at Technosylva (San Diego, CA), and Professor at the University of Leon (Spain). IAWF Board of Director since 2020.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Estimated ac Burned 601,625 625,540 880,899 669,534 1,548,429 1,975,086 259,823 4,257,863
Number of Incidents 9,907 7,233 8,283 6,954 9,270 7,948 7,860 9,917
Confirmed Loss of Life 1 2 7 6 47 100 3 33
Structures Damaged/Destroyed 22
wildfire
456 471 3,159 1,274 10,280 24,226 732 10,488 Source: Recent evolution of wildfire impacts in California. Source https://www.fire.ca.gov/stats-events/
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JANUARY - MARCH 2021
Table 1. Annual fire statistics for California from 2013 to 2020.
