2605.02187 After Adjusting for Housing Stock and Acres Burned, Has California Wildfire Structure Destruction Per Unit Exposure Actually Risen? (2000–2023)
California's annual wildfire structure-destruction totals rose roughly a hundredfold over 2000–2023, from 265 structures lost in 2000 to 24,226 in 2018 alone. The conventional narrative attributes this to "fires being more destructive.