Fire retardant dropped from an aircraft rains down around firefighters at the Martindale Fire on September 28, 2020 near Santa Clarita, California. The fire threatened numerous rural homes in Bouquet Canyon as wildfires continue to burn a record 3.75 million acres this year in California. Since Jan. 1, 2020, there have been 8,100 wildfires in California. While the number may seem drastically higher than other years, it's not. Previous years have seen a similar number of wildfires. What is drastically higher is the number of acres that have burned this year. More than 3.7 million acres have burned across the state, which is a record in recorded history. That record-setting number is also more than five times the five-year average. Although this is the greatest number of acres burned in the state's history, it is still not considered the most destructive due to structures lost and loss of life.