(Want to get California Today by email? Up against the ferocity of fire, it is easy to feel that forces beyond our control are at work. In the middle of the worst wildfire season in memory in California, there is a great sense of powerlessness in the face of nature. Yet, almost every fire, as we detailed this week, is ignited by a person — either by mistake or on purpose. A person with a hammer is believed to have mistakenly set the fires of the Mendocino Complex blaze, now the largest in California history.

Source: New York Times August 23, 2018 12:56 UTC