Record-breaking wildfires surpass 4 million acres

In a year that has already brought apocalyptic skies and smothering smoke to the West Coast, California set a grim record Sunday when officials announced that the wildfires of 2020 have now scorched a record 4 million acres — in a fire season that is far from over.

The unprecedented figure — an area larger than the state of Connecticut — is more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in California.

“The 4 million mark is unfathomable. It boggles the mind, and it takes your breath away,” said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. It is an area that is larger than the state of Connecticut. “And that number will grow.”

Cal Fire said in a statement Sunday that there have been more than 8,200 wildfires since the start of the year that have burned “well over 4 million acres in California” or 6,250 square miles. The previous record was set two years ago when wildfires destroyed 1.67 million acres.

The fires of 2020 have killed 31 people, incinerated hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. The enormity of the fires has meant that people living far from the flames experienced a degree of misery that in itself was unprecedented, with historically unhealthy air quality and smoke so dense that it blurred the skies across California and on some days even blotted out the sun. Last month, a relentless heat wave hit the state that helped fuel the fires and caused so much air pollution that it seeped indoors, prompting stores across California to sell out of air purifiers.