# How much of California is still unburned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467 "2009-09-01T10:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/21 "2009-09-01T23:47:47Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Of course, California itself covers about 164,000 square miles; thus, the percent of the Golden State left unburnt in this current fire is 99.9%. Cumulatively, I’d say a reasonable WAG is as much as, oh, 3%-4% of California’s territory has been scorched by one wildfire or another. You mean this year? Because every place in the entire state burns eventually. Thing is, fire in California is a self-regulating process. Plants grow and drop flammable material which builds up until a wildfire happens, and then flammable material is removed from the system. Then plants regrow (lots of them can survive fire, others are reintroduced), and flammable material builds up again until the next fire. So the amount of plant growth is regulated by fire, and fire is regulated by plant growth. Too many fires and there’s no plant growth, and which means less fuel, which means fewer fires. Too few fires means more plant growth, which means material builds up, which means more fires. It’s a circle of life thing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/22 "2009-09-02T01:20:35Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > What I don’t get is why people keep building/buying the multimillion dollar homes that are on the fringes of L.A. and most susceptible to these fires. The news doesn’t tend to mention that these aren’t just “ordinary people” who are getting their homes destroyed, most of them are filthy rich (by my standards anyway) and have dumped huge amounts of money into these homes. And, they insist on making the roof out of kindling wood (aka 'shake").:mad: I saw some pictures after the Oakland fires- there’d be a home with a tile roof sitting there in the middle of a dozen burned out houses- and I saw this over and over. Lemur866: umm, no, we have areas with no vegetation at all, of course. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/23 "2009-09-02T01:37:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And, they insist on making the roof out of kindling wood (aka 'shake").:mad: I saw some pictures after the Oakland fires- there’d be a home with a tile roof sitting there in the middle of a dozen burned out houses- and I saw this over and over. > > Lemur866: umm, no, we have areas with no vegetation at all, of course. Also: Since they opted to live in the woods, people want trees nestled right up to their houses. Eucalyptus. Big factor in the Oakland Hills firestorm. Many of the transition zones between forest and urban areas contain extensive groves of these hundred foot tall non-native tiki torches. They drop huge amounts of flammable duff, too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/24 "2009-09-02T01:44:39Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > We are a huge state, and TV coverage can be very deceiving- you would think the entire state is on fire. It’s not. 🙂 Yes, but I can see the Oak Glen III and Pendelton fires from my dining room window. They canceled school today because of air quality issues. Well, that and because it’s hard to either teach or study when there’s a good chance your house might burn down. They seem to have settled down tonight. I guess having Ah-nold in town scared the fires a bit! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/25 "2009-09-02T01:45:27Z")
Yeah, I live in California and I just don’t get the mentality of people who live in the mountains and the foothills. It’s not the same type of risk as earthquakes, serious ones of which only occur every few decades. It happens _every year._ First your home is in danger of burning down, then it’s in danger of being carried away by a flash flood or a mudslide. I would _never_ live in a forested area. It’s the city all the way for me. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/26 "2009-09-02T02:48:19Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You mean this year? Because every place in the entire state burns eventually. > > Thing is, fire in California is a self-regulating process. Plants grow and drop flammable material which builds up until a wildfire happens, and then flammable material is removed from the system. Then plants regrow (lots of them can survive fire, others are reintroduced), and flammable material builds up again until the next fire. So the amount of plant growth is regulated by fire, and fire is regulated by plant growth. Too many fires and there’s no plant growth, and which means less fuel, which means fewer fires. Too few fires means more plant growth, which means material builds up, which means more fires. It’s a circle of life thing. No, I mean in a human lifetime. I put it to you that in any given 80-year period, only 3-4% of the state has burned. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/27 "2009-09-02T02:58:17Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Yeah, I live in California and I just don’t get the mentality of people who live in the mountains and the foothills. It’s not the same type of risk as earthquakes, serious ones of which only occur every few decades. It happens _every year._ First your home is in danger of burning down, then it’s in danger of being carried away by a flash flood or a mudslide. I would _never_ live in a forested area. It’s the city all the way for me. True dat. My best friend from high school lived up Silverado, Modjeska & Harding Canyons for years, until the disasters a couple of years back. First, the fire burned right up to her back retaining wall, then the subsequent mudslides sent a boulder the size of a VW Bug crashing through her kitchen wall, about 10 feet from where her kids usually sat & watched TV. They said “fuck it” and moved to a rental near the beach. She expects a tsunami at some point. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/28 "2009-09-02T05:51:40Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > Yeah, I live in California and I just don’t get the mentality of people who live in the mountains and the foothills. It’s not the same type of risk as earthquakes, serious ones of which only occur every few decades. It happens _every year._ First your home is in danger of burning down, then it’s in danger of being carried away by a flash flood or a mudslide. I would _never_ live in a forested area. It’s the city all the way for me. It appears you’re unaware of the fact that most of the brush burning in the Station Fire has not burned in 40 years or more. There are sections of Mt. Wilson that have not burned in over 70 years. The fires, while they happen every year, don’t happen in the _same_ location every year. Just as an aside-- most of Laurel and Coldwater Canyons have not burned in over 30 years. And there’s more million dollar homes there than you can shake a stick at. Much ado about nothing here, really. With this logic, most of Florida should be permanently vacated, no? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/29 "2009-09-02T14:54:22Z")
How much will that hurricane help things with the fires? If it keeps going north it would be pretty good news wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467/30 "2009-09-02T15:58:26Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > How much will that hurricane help things with the fires? If it keeps going north it would be pretty good news wouldn’t it? Very unlikely. Pacific hurricanes usually stay well south of CA, and this one seems no exception. You aren’t the only person to think of this, of course: > **[Could Hurricane Jimena put out California's wildfires?](https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bright-Green/2009/0901/could-hurricaine-jimena-put-out-californias-wildfires)** > > Hurricane Jimena, with its 135 mile-per-hour winds, is [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-california-is-still-unburned/508467.md?page=1)