The recent wildfire season is the largest recorded in California’s modern history. However, that ranking is not likely to last more than a few years. Why have wildfires become so frequent, so intense, so costly and so deadly? The simple answer is global climate change, but as with everything else, it’s complicated. We will examine the causes of global climate change, its impact on the factors that trigger and fuel wildfires in California, the difficulties of responding to modern wildfires, as well as elements of the equation that are not directly related to climate change. We will also discuss what to do to prepare for wildfires and how great the threat from wildfires is in Davis.