In photos: 2020 wildfires on the West Coast
Firefighters look out over a burning hillside as they fight the Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, California, on Monday, October 26, 2020.
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

In photos: 2020 wildfires on the West Coast

Updated 1637 GMT (0037 HKT) January 26, 2023

Firefighters look out over a burning hillside as they fight the Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, California, on Monday, October 26, 2020.
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Wildfires ravaged the West in 2020, especially in California, where fires burned twice the state's previous acreage record.

Upward of 8,600 fires burned more than 4 million acres in California, according to Cal Fire, as dry, windy conditions and record-breaking high temperatures fueled flames for weeks.

Across the West, more than 10 million acres burned, with Oregon and Washington experiencing particularly intense wildfires. Dozens of people died in fires in 2020, and Stanford researchers estimated 1,200 to 3,000 more people died in California from smoke inhalation-related illness.

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