Fire crews keep a watchful eye on the Airport fire in the community of Ranch Santa Margarita on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. The Airport fire has charred more than 9,000 acres.
We’re at peak fire season in the West, and this year has been notably busy compared with the previous two seasons, which were tempered by back-to-back wet winters.
According to Cal Fire incident data, roughly 838,575 acres have burned so far this season. That’s more than in 2022 and 2023 combined.
Although fires are part of our forests’ natural ecosystem, human-caused climate change and roughly a century of flawed forest management have greatly increased the risks that wildland fires will explode into the massive infernos we’ve seen happen more frequently in recent years.
Cars are packed as residents flee the Line fire on Tuesday in Green Valley Lake, Calif. Green Valley Lake along with most mountain communities in the San Bernardino National Forest are under a mandatory evacuation order.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
As darkness falls, the Line fire burns on an eastern ridge over Highway 38 near the community of Mountain Home Village in Thurman Flats, Calif. on Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Firefighters from the Mill Creek hotshot crew monitor the Line fire burning over a ridge off Highway 38 on Monday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
A man waters the roof of his home to protect the house as the Line Fire burns in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, forcing evacuations for neighborhoods on Saturday in San Bernardino, Calif. The fire started on Thursday afternoon and spread to more than 3900 acres as of this afternoon with zero containment.
(Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
The Line Fire jumps Highway 330 as an emergency vehicle is driven past on Saturday near Running Springs, Calif.
(Eric Thayer/Associated Press)
Airport Fire - Trabuco Canyon, CA
A man watches flames from the Airport Fire as it envelops a hill behind homes on Monday in Trabuco Canyon, Calif.
(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)
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A firefighting helicopter battles the Airport fire, dropping water near Santiago Peak on Tuesday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A fire truck keeps an eye on the Airport fire along Meander Lane in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., on Tuesday. The Airport fire has charred more than 9,000 acres.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Boyles fire - Clearlake, CA
Firefighters battle the Boyles fire in Clearlake, Calif., on Sunday.
Gina Ferazzi grew up in the small New England town of Longmeadow, Mass. She has been a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 1994. Her photos are a part of the staff Pulitzer Prizes for Breaking News in 2016 for the San Bernardino terrorist attack and for the wildfires in 2004. She’s an all-around photographer covering assignments from Winter Olympics, presidential campaigns to local and national news events. Her video documentaries include stories on black tar heroin, health clinics, women priests and Marine suicide. A two-sport scholarship athlete at the University of Maine, Orono, she still holds the record for five goals in one field hockey game.
Los Angeles Times staff photographer Allen J. Schaben is an award-winning journalist capturing a wide range of images over the past 34 years. Before joining The Times, he honed his craft at the Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Wichita Eagle and Connecticut Post. Schaben earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993.
