Winter fires such as one near Big Sur unusual in California
Winter fires such as the one that ignited Friday night near Big Sur are very unusual in California.
Since 2013, there have been only 20 fires that started in January that Cal Fire has battled, including four years when there weren’t any in the month, according to the agency’s incident reports.
So far this year, the Colorado Fire in Monterey County, which burned 1,500 acres as of Saturday morning, is the only fire for the state agency. Last year there were 10 fires in the state during January, far more than for the same month over the last nine years.
Here are the number of fires Cal Fire has responded to during January over the past nine years:
2021: 10
2020: 0
2019: 1
2018: 1
2017: 0
2016: 0
2015: 0
2014: 7
2013: 1