Photo: San Francisco, California. 2020. Gabe Castro-Root.
In San Francisco, California, our trees are evergreen, meaning that their leaves don't turn red in the fall time. One summer, however, the sky turned red-- in the middle of the day.
While California has long been prone to wildfires due to its especially dry climate and persistent drought, in the past forty-five years, the nearly-annual California wildfires have gotten progressively worse, undoubtedly a result of Climate Change (Science: Wildfires Impacts). In fact, the majority of the most severe wildfires in the history of the state took place just in the last twenty years, five of the them occurring since 2015 (Science: Wildfires Impacts).
Given our modern hazard zone monitoring technologies and evacuation warning systems, the morality rates of California wildfires are generally not extremely high. The primary danger is destruction of property and smoke exposure, even from hundreds of miles from the disaster.
The most recent great California wildfire was the Eaton Fire of Los Angeles County in January 2025 (Eye Witness News). The fire decimated 14, 117 acres of land and over seven thousand buildings; sixteen people died (Eye Witness News). Eaton primarily affected Black communities; in town of Altadena, 48% of Black homes in the area were destroyed and 61% were in the range of the fire (Bonner). Black homeowners not only had to deal with the destruction of their homes and property, but they also faced "the long-term challenges stemming from systemic inequities to sustain and grow this historic Black community" (Bonner). With over 2,800 Black households evacuated, Black youth are prevented from inheriting generational wealth due to the destruction of property (Bonner). Additionally, the increasing costs of living, on top of the systemic homeownership disadvantages that Black buyers endure, all "threaten to erase Altadena’s Black community altogether" (Bonner).
Another relatively recent huge California wildfire was the North Complex fire of August and September 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
However, the fame of the North Complex fire came not only from its rapid destructive streak, but also from the smoke that traveled over a hundred miles from Plumas National Forest to the Bay Area, bringing brilliant red skies along with it.
Photo: San Francisco, California. 2020. Gabe Castro-Root.
Long distance smoke exposure is very common when it comes to wildfires, but never before in the Bay Area had the skies darkened with thick, ominous red clouds that transformed the world into a Marshan-like cityscape. What made this event different? At first, small fires were ignited across Northern California during a lightning storm (Anguiano). Soon these hundreds of smaller fires spread and united into a humongous fire that burned through over 300, 000 acres, killing at least sixteen people and displacing thousands of households (Anguiano). The horrible air quality extended as far north as Oregon and Washington, and all the way down to Southern California, contributing to numerous death just from exposure (Anguiano).
The North Complex was really traumatic event for thousands of people and animals. Yet I am ashamed to admit it, but a lot of us in the Bay Area, myself included, were quite facetious about the whole disaster. I vaguely recall people posting photos of the sky all over the internet and some even going outside to take selfies. My dad and my older brother, now a newly graduated environmental journalist, went to photograph the landscape. I was thirteen and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The fiery red sky was the most exciting event that had occurred in months, so I didn’t think deeply about the implications of the smoke because none of us or people I knew were really affected by it. But I think about it now. Our wildfire season has started to creep up sooner and extend longer each year. While my family and friends have been lucky enough to come away mostly unscathed, none of us are guaranteed. That is something I have to deeply consider when I decide where to live after I graduate college.
Photo: San Francisco, California. 2020. Gabe Castro-Root.
Works Cited
Anguiano, Dani. “California’s Wildfire Hell: How 2020 Became the State’s Worst Ever Fire Season.” The Guardian, 30 Dec. 2020, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/30/california-wildfires-north-complex-record.
Bonner, Kacey. “Altadena’s Black Community Disproportionately Affected by Eaton Fire, Report Shows.” UCLA, 28 Jan. 2025, newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/altadenas-black-community-disproportionately-affected-eaton-fire-report-shows.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Science: Wildfire Impacts.” Wildlife.ca.gov, 2023, wildlife.ca.gov/Science-Institute/Wildfire-Impacts.
“LA’s Eaton Fire Is One of the Deadliest in California History.” ABC7 Los Angeles, 13 Jan. 2025, abc7.com/post/worst-fires-california-history-here-are-top-deadliest-wildfires-state/15796053/.
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