Fire liars: If California on fire in 2019 freaked you out, get perspective.

If it bleeds,it leads is newspaper lore.  "Burns" or "Scandal targets our political opponents" lead too.  Take a closer look at BURNS.

2019 as California was apparently being burned to the ground, 4.3 million acres burned across the US, rather less than usual and far below historic averages  See the chart for 1926 to 2017.


Zoom out a bit more.  Were those 40 million acre numbers from the '30s a blip or a background?

Further back as mentioned in a California study: 

“It was apparent from the fire record that there were two dramatic changes in the fire pattern. First, fires became less frequent and more widespread in the study area following the substantial Euro-American settlement of the 1850s. Secondly, fires were generally eliminated from the study area after 1924 when fire suppression efforts were becoming more effective in accessible areas.” Many of these studies mention American Indian burning for enhancement of food, materials, basketry, and other resources: “People have affected fire regimes and forests in the study area during different times in known and unknown ways. Before European settlement, native Americans set fires that may have burned through the study area. Local Klamath [mountain] tribes used fire extensively to promote acorns, berry, root and fiber production and to hunt game.”