Just noticed this:
” But the fires a year or two ago were not like others (burn patterns, max temperatures), etc.”
I don’t know about that, I read Inciweb and Calfire as well as ODF (OR Dept of Forestry) constantly (obsessively...?) in the summer, being surrounded by a gazillion acres of national and state forests. I have never read anything that the fires the last year or two were unusual in patterns or max temps. Just more arson esp last year, some around same time frames plus arsonists seen and more than a few arrested.
PG&E is a very bad actor in CA fires. Turns out the Slater fire that almost got to us was not arson after all but PG&E. Which I consider arson.
gisd O