California Wilfires

Last week several wildfires ran rampant through California, whose Santa Anna winds strengthened the fire for days. In only a matter of days, the wildfires burned 35,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 800 structures causing approximately 36,000 evacuations. These wildfires are a common burden on California and have forced the government to spend upwards of 500 million dollars on the fires since the beginning of the year. The regularity of these fires causes many to worry, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who said, “Everyone has recognized that this is a different situation than we have had in the past. We don’t have a fire season anymore, we have fires all year round.” The record high temperatures in California and the on going drought could have played a major role the frequency of these wildfires. The changing climate that is causing havoc around the world seems to have finally hit America hard. Governor Schwarzenegger is in the process of passing regulations that require fire retardant materials to be used in certain fire-prone areas. From the million dollar mansions to the trailer parks, devastating losses were felt. The homes of Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, Michael Douglas, and Christopher Lloyd were all within the path of the wildfires. However, Christopher Lloyd, the “Back to the Future” star, was the only actor to loose their home to the mighty flames. Thankfully, there were no recorded causalities.