A recent study from the University of California-Irvine found about 20% of California's wildfires from 2000 through 2019 were responsible for 97% of the total area charred. Over 90% of casualties and property losses in the state were due to larger wildfires over 500 acres, according to Tirtha Banerjee, [assistant professor, civil & environmental engineering], one of the study's co-authors. … "Before 2000, there were almost no human-caused wildfires along California's Pacific coastline, but now nearly every coastal county is experiencing increased risk," said Shu Li, a Ph.D. candidate [civil & environmental engineering] and lead author of the aforementioned University of California-Irvine study. Read More