Keeley published a paper in 2018 finding that all ignition sources of fires had declined in California except for electric power lines.91 “Since the year 2000 there’ve been a half-million acres burned due to powerline-ignited fires, which is five times more than we saw in the previous twenty years,” he said. “Some people would say, ‘Well, that’s associated with climate change.’ But there’s no relationship between climate and these big fire events.”92 What then is driving the increase in fires? “If you recognize that 100 percent of these [shrubland] fires are started by people, and you add six
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