One of my earliest memories (fuzzy though it is; I was very young) was ash falling from the sky while out at a San Francisco park. The date? October 20, 1991--the day the devastating Oakland Hills fire tore through around 3,000 structures and killed 25 in the Berkeley Hills. - ThreadSky

weatherwest.bsky.social • 46 days ago

One of my earliest memories (fuzzy though it is; I was very young) was ash falling from the sky while out at a San Francisco park. The date? October 20, 1991--the day the devastating Oakland Hills fire tore through around 3,000 structures and killed 25 in the Berkeley Hills.

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kietams.bsky.social•46 days ago

I lost an elementary school teacher in the 1991 fire and another teacher only survived by leaping off her back deck and running down the hill still in her pajamas.

gabege.bsky.social•46 days ago

Funny, I was just in the Hiller Highlands neighborhood of Oakland today. It's totally rebuilt now, much the way it was before except the houses look a bit newer.

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

For many years after, that firestorm was viewed as essentially the benchmark for a catastrophic fire in the wildland-urban interface: an event that was seared in the memories of millions & which kept wildfire fire experts up at night, working to prevent the "next Oakland Hills."

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

There were lessons learned, of course; some of them were implemented (improved emergency communications between first responders from different agencies was an important legacy), and very likely saved lives thereafter. But then, at some point later, there was a palpable shift.

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

In the past decade (early 2015-early 2025), at least 238 people have been killed and a staggering 71,000 structures have been destroyed by wildfire in California alone. That death toll is greater than cumulatively in *all* California earthquakes over nearly the past century.

katharinehayhoe.com•46 days ago

And if you look at the epidemiology of excess deaths after a fire, you can multiply that number of deaths by 200

cosaingalway.bsky.social•46 days ago

The adverse health impacts may also extend far beyond the area directly affected by the fire, and there is little that can be done to protect populations.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(24)00117-7/fulltext

cosaingalway.bsky.social•46 days ago

👇

https://bsky.app/profile/firebobbc.bsky.social/post/3lfx5i7yxvs2o

leahfrittsvitali.bsky.social•46 days ago

@weatherwest.bsky.social is there anyone that can provide numbers/stats on the endangered and threatened species in affected areas? Or how we can support the organizations assisting wildlife?

anlomedad.bsky.social•46 days ago

I doubt that species r endangered regionally by increasing wildfire extent or activity specifically. Unless their climate niche has already vanished, or toxins from burnt buildings remain in soil, after a while a burnt circle gets repopulated by 🌱🐛naturally migrating from nearest neighbour circles.

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

Clearly, *something* has changed. In reality, many things have changed. Far more people today live in high fire risk zones than ever before. We removed beneficial fires (both natural ignitions & cultural burning) from the landscape. The climate has warmed, and the West has dried.

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

None of these things has happened over night (some have unfolded over the better part of two centuries). But the net effect is profound, and (whether due to luck, self-reinforcing synergies, or some combination) the present seems to be a moment of consequence.

weatherwest.bsky.social•46 days ago

The surge in wildfire disasters that wipe whole towns, neighborhoods, and suburbs off the map is simply not sustainable (for so very many reasons). We see this through wholesale collapse of communities & mass displacement, though skyrocketing rents & imploding insurance markets.

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