California Wildfires Have Burned Millions of Acres and Are Threatening Santa Cruz

Unless you’ve been waiting out the pandemic off grid (or have somehow missed the smokey air that’s created hazy skies in Oregon, Idaho, and even Utah), you’re probably aware of the fires currently devastating Northern California’s Bay Area. As of this morning, the three largest fires, the LNU lightning complex fire burning in the Napa/Sonoma wine country, the SCU lightning complex fire threatening the San Jose area, and the CZU lightning complex fire just north of Santa Cruz have devoured 1.2 million acres, according to the Cal Fire website. That’s larger than the state of Rhode Island. Triggered by what is being referred to as the “August Lightning Siege,” which started on Saturday, August 15, and rained down nearly 12,000 lightning strikes in under 72 hours, these three fires alone have destroyed more than 1,000 structures and forced over 100,000 residents to evacuate.