Two years of California wildfires deadlier than almost 30 years of U.S. quakes

Nov. 13--The Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise is already the single deadliest and most destructive in California history. Here are some other facts that put this lethal inferno into perspective.

How deadly is it?

In the last two years, 105 people died in California wildfires in 2017 and 2018, eclipsing the total number of wildfire fatalities in the entire previous decade, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That's more than all the U.S. deaths from earthquakes since 1990. The Camp Fire, with 42 dead as of Tuesday, topped the 29 killed in the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles in 1933, the 25 killed in the Tunnel Fire that burned through the Oakland Hills in 1991 and the 22 killed in last year's deadly Wine Country Tubbs Fire.

How big is it?

The 125,000 acres burned by the Camp Fire that as of Tuesday was just 30 percent contained is already four times the size of San Francisco (about 30,000 acres).

And before the fires this past week, California wildfires on state and federal land had already burned 2,139 square miles this year, an area almost twice the size of Rhode Island.

How destructive is it?

The Camp Fire has destroyed 6,522 residences -- about 2,000 more homes than the 4,441 built in San Francisco in all of 2017. It destroyed more than the 5,643 structures burned in the Tubbs Fire last year and the 2,900 in the Oakland Hills in 1991.

How smoky is it?

The Camp Fire has choked much of northern California with smoke so unhealthy that air quality officials have advised people to stay indoors and high school football championships have been postponed. How bad is the air quality?

According to Purple Air, a company that monitors air quality globally through sensors around the world, air quality in Chico spiked on Saturday to 599 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index, more than the 597 reading Nov. 7 in New Delhi, India, which has some of the dirtiest air among places worldwide where the company has sensors.

As of Tuesday morning, Oroville, south of Chico, was reporting an air quality reading of 560, while New Delhi was registering 367.

How many are fighting the fires?

There are nearly 8,800 firefighters battling the flames at California's Camp, Woolsey and Hill fires, more than the number of U.S. service members reported to be deployed in Iraq and Syria this year.

What's the damage in dollars?

Last year's October and December wildfires reached an estimated $12.5 billion in insured losses, according to the Insurance Journal. That's more than the Bahamas' economic output for last year. The latest wildfires this past week could total at least $6.8 billion in losses, the Insurance Journal said based on a Moody's report.

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