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The United States suffered another brutal fire season this year. More than 57,000 wildfires burned nearly 7.7 million acres in 2021, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Kyle Grillot/For The Washington Post
The Caldor Fire burns in the Eldorado National Forest south of Pollock Pines, Calif., in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
The monstrous Dixie Fire was responsible for a significant amount of that destructing, burning nearly 1 million acres.
It was California’s second-largest fire on record.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Firefighters work to extinguish flames in a burning building while trying to protect a home in Greenville, Calif., in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
The intensity has been grueling for firefighters, who are working longer hours and more days than ever before. In November and December, when fires are practically unheard of, some flared up as far north as Colorado and Montana amid record-high temperatures.
Blazes are often wilder too, burning hotter and faster because of the multiyear drought and extreme heat, intensified by climate change.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Hector Samayoa works with the Golden Eagles Hotshots to contain the Dixie Fire in Quincy, Calif., in July.
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
Hotshot crews work to contain the Dixie Fire in Quincy in July.
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
A firefighter has various fire engine and equipment designation numbers written on his sleeve near Chester, Calif., in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
“We can’t catch a break,” former Eldorado Hotshot Aaron Humphrey said.
Earlier this year, the Eldorado Hotshots crew was called back form a 14-day deployment in northern California to fight a blaze burning in their own backyard.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Lake Oroville is shrouded in smoke from the Dixie Fire in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Usually, firefighters can increase containment at night or when weather patterns shift, but the current crop of fires does not seem to let up. Some blazes exhibited extreme behavior and created their own weather, generating towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds that unleashed lightning, violent winds and even fire tornadoes.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
California Conservation Corps firefighters eat and hydrate after a shift cutting fireline in front of the Caldor Fire in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Firefighting is taxing on the human body.
Firefighters carry loads of up to 75 pounds. In many western states, they must hike steep terrain to access the fires, often while breathing in smoke.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
A firefighter washes his face at the crew buggy after cutting fireline off the Mormon Emigrant Trail in August in Grizzly Flats, Calif.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Firefighters wait as weather intensifies during the Dixie Fire near Taylorsville, Calif., in July.
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
“They’re beaten up, limping,” Humphrey said. Some have been pushed to the brink. At the same time, many acknowledge that “this is the new normal.”
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
A burned truck in central Greenville, Calif., in August.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
The Trinity Hotshots approach the Dixie Fire as it burns near Quincy in July.
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
Kyle Grillot for The Washington Post
The Caldor Fire burns into the Christmas Valley and the town of Meyers near South Lake Tahoe in California in August as seen from Route 50 at Echo Summit.
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
Stuart W. Palley for The Washington Post
More from the Post
'We can’t catch a break:’ California’s brutal wildfires are exhausting firefighters
Photos: Inside the fight to contain the Dixie Fire
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Credits
Photo editing by Karly Domb Sadof and MaryAnne Golon. Text by Amanda Erickson. Production by Karly Domb Sadof