California has dry, windy, and often hot weather conditions from spring through late autumn that can produce moderate to devastating wildfires. As a result, many wildfires are somewhat of a common occurence in California.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the most destructive wildfire was the Camp Fire of November 2018, which spanned 153,336 acres, destroyed an estimated 18,804 structures and killed 85 people.
According to Vox's Umair Irfan,
The overall trend in California is troubling too. Six of California’s 10 most destructive wildfires on record have hit in just the past three years.
Similarly, According to Vox's Kelsey Piper:
On a list of the ten most destructive wildfires since records started being kept in 1932, (from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), five happened in the last decade. That suggests that the “new normal” is a record fire about every other year — though 2020 is likely to be worse than the early parts of the decade, as the effects of climate change worsen.
Will California have a wildfire among the 10 most destructive in state history in 2020?
This question resolves positively if the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection estimates that a wildfire that occurs in 2020 destroys more structures than the 10th most destructive wildfire to date (which currently is the Thomas fire in Ventura & Santa Barbara which destroyed 1,063 structures).