Partial photo: Benjamin Lizardo
California’s annual burn season has lengthened in the past two decades, and the yearly peak has shifted from August to July. The number of hot spots — places with severe fire risk — has grown significantly in recent years, fueled by higher annual mean temperatures, greater vapor pressure deficit (lack of air moisture), drought, and an elevated chance of blazes being sparked through such human causes as power line disruptions, construction, transportation, campfires, discarded cigarettes and fireworks. There has also been a significant increase in “extreme” wildfires scorching more than 10,000 acres.