The intensity of the fire season has been attributed to a combination of more than a century of poor forest management and higher temperatures resulting from climate change. The fires destroyed over 10,000 structures and cost over $12.079 billion (2020 USD) in damages, including over $10 billion in property damage and $2.079 billion in fire suppression costs. California's August Complex fire has been described as the first "gigafire", burning over 1 million acres across seven counties, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. By the end of the year, 9,917 fires had burned 4,397,809 acres (1,779,730 ha), more than 4% of the state's roughly 100 million acres of land, making 2020 the largest wildfire season recorded in California's modern history (according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), though roughly equivalent to the pre-1800 levels which averaged around 4.4 million acres yearly and up to 12 million in peak years. The 2020 California wildfire season, part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season, was a record-setting year of wildfires in California. An Augsatellite image of the wildfires burning in Northern California, covering a significant portion of California and nearby states. Map of 2020 California wildfires Five of the twenty largest wildfires in California history were part of the 2020 wildfire season.
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