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11 points
There are two different parts to that:
- What was the ignition source, which is currently unknown
- What caused it to go from a tiny fire to a huge fire very quickly, which is the result of having a couple of fairly wet years, followed by a very dry year, combined with hot dry winds. A warming world is in part responsible for those conditions.
2 points
You’re really downplaying the winds here. Hurricane force winds with gusts north of 80 mph and <10% relative humidity grounded all air traffic, and these fires spread and grew in hilly areas inaccessible via ground vehicles.
Sometimes you’re just totally fucked and there’s nothing you can do but get out of the way.