631 missing in California wildfire as death and damage tolls rise

The big picture: No single factor — not climate change, forest management or building practices — is responsible for the deadly blazes the state is now seeing, experts tell Axios. Instead, it's their combination that's making an already dicey situation far worse. And the outlook in coming years, as climate change continues, is foreboding.

• The state's fire season now stretches later into the fall and starts earlier in the spring.

What's happening: Longer-term climate change and population growth are combining to increase wildfire risk in California and more broadly across the American West.

• One of the starkest changes firefighters are contending with is an uptick in instances of extreme fire behavior, such as the massive EF-3 fire tornado that accompanied the Carr Fire in July.
• The biggest climate change-related impact is manifested in the increased dryness of vegetation.
• “The warming equals drying equals more explosive fire growth," said Neil Lareau, a researcher specializing in fire weather at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Go deeper:

• Axios Science: Wildfire Edition
• Wildfires cause more than breathing problems across California