The drought ended, so why is California's fire season getting worse?

Hot Shot crews from Mendocino use backfires to help contain the County Fire along Highway 129 near Lake Berryessa in Yolo County, California, on Tuesday, July 3, 2018. Hot Shot crews from Mendocino use backfires to help contain the County Fire along Highway 129 near Lake Berryessa in Yolo County, California, on Tuesday, July 3, 2018. Photo: Randall Benton / Sacramento Bee Photo: Randall Benton / Sacramento Bee Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close The drought ended, so why is California's fire season getting worse? 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

It's only the beginning of summer and California residents have already found themselves in a furnace of oppressive heat and raging wildfires. At the current pace, the two fire season's since California's five-year drought ended will be the worst on record.

The wildfires that torched California in 2017 caused historic levels of death and destruction, but the fierce start to the season in 2018 indicates this year could be equally challenging for overworked crews. Last year the federal government spent over $2.39 billion on firefighting, easily outpacing all previous fire seasons.

Since Jan. 1, the state has seen 2,964 wildfires. At this same time last year, 2,750 had sparked. Wildfires have already torched 231,000 acres since the start of the new year.

"Statistically we're ahead of last year," says Scott McLean, a Cal Fire deputy chief. "Fire behavior this year is more aggressive earlier in the year."

In recent weeks, residents have been forced to flee their homes as firefighters battled flames up and down the state and temperatures in inland valleys and mountain regions repeatedly soared into the triple digits.

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McLean says while the state saw heavy precipitation two years ago, with reservoirs filling up and California Governor Jerry Brown declaring an end to the drought, the landscape is parched and groundwater depleted from multiple years marked by low rainfall and a paltry snowpack.

"Folks believe the rains came and took care of the problem," he says. "They exacerbating the problem by promoting growth. Our grass growth has been very significant in recent years and that has added fuel to these fires. It just takes a spark. We need several years of significant winters to get us back to the place we were before."

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California's Deadliest Wildfires California's Deadliest Wildfires Photo: David McNew/Getty Images Photo: David McNew/Getty Images Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close 10 deadliest wildfires in California history 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Adding yet another dimension to the problem, the forests suffered through years of drought leading up to 2017, and the state estimates that since Dec. 2016 some 129 million trees have died due to drought and insect infestation. That's a staggering 2 million trees a month.

"The fact is millions of trees die every year, and there are millions of little seedlings that don't make it," says Keith Gilles, dean of the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. "But when you have this many big trees dead, it's pretty different. The fuel load is very high."

On Monday, a battalion of 2,716 firefighters, 199 engines, 26 dozers and 14 helicopters fought the Klamathon Fire at the California-Oregon brder where temperatures hit the low 100s and dry winds spread flames.

Over the weekend, firefighters battled more than a dozen wildfires racing across Southern California, where a heat wave knocked out power for thousands.

McLean says Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency, is prepared for the season and plans to respond to initial attacks with more resources to stop the spread of fires.

"We're being really aggressive to get initial resources in the initial dispatch," he says. "We have the ability to move our resources, aircraft, crews, to be pre-staged in case that area has a significant weather pattern that might contribute to the spread of a fire."

Cal Fire is asking California residents to do their part by clearing dry brush from properties and avoiding behaviors that may spark the next fire.