Thousands of lightning strikes spark fires across Northern California

A map showing fires in Northern California. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/R5_Fire_News)

Since the official start of fire season in Northern California on Monday, 2,600 lightning strikes have sparked almost 60 fires in seven forests.

Over the past three days, heavy storms have made their way through the region, fire officials said Wednesday, and the U.S. Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have had to increase staffing to fight fires generated by the lightning. Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant told the Los Angeles Times that most of the fires were contained before they could get out of hand, but larger fires, like the 30-acre Bald fire in Humboldt County, have the potential to grow.

Fire risk is high due to dry vegetation and above average temperatures, but some areas have received a bit of rain: Shingletown, north of Sacramento, was hit with 1.04 inches in 30 minutes on Tuesday. "Our weather has been very unusual this year," Berlant said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.