Wildfires, a Heat Wave, Power Outages and a Pandemic

Good morning.

We knew this was coming.

A dry winter was likely to lead to an explosive fire season that starts early and lasts longer. Lots of rain the winter before that one means there’s lots to burn.

The pandemic, we’ve seen over and over again, has made people who were already vulnerable even more so. Firefighting ranks — usually filled out with prisoners — have been stretched thin, and evacuation protocols complicated by the possible transmission of the coronavirus.

[Read more about how climate change means that the worst of both worlds is in California’s long term forecast.]

Experts have warned of these risks repeatedly.

And yet, every order to evacuate, every video of a lurid orange fire line, every image of a smoldering house, of cars leaving a packed cul-de-sac, of smoke drifting over hundreds of miles of the Bay Area, feels at once like a flashback and another sucker punch to the gut.