The Lake Fire near Los Olivos has consumed more than 38,000 acres since it ignited July 5.

High winds and difficult terrain often drive wildfires in Santa Barbara County, but this fire is more related to extreme heat.

According to fire behavior trainee Dan Michael, “Those fire fuels, there’s a ton of them, and they’ve been baking like they’re in an oven especially for the last week, especially above where the marine layer sits.”

“The night is when you’re going to see the most fire behavior,” he warned. “It’s going to be warm; it’s going to be dry.”

The California fire season is off to a scary start this year. At least 18 fires are burning in the state, according to CalFire.

By the first day of summer more than three times as many acres have burned compared to the same period of time in the worst of the previous five years.

Santa Barbara County has been under excessive-heat warnings for days. These dangerously hot conditions reduce trees and plants to kindling that’s only a spark away from conflagration.

While forest fires are a natural occurrence, global warming is causing hotter and drier conditions that make them more frequent and intense.

In fact, scientists can now link these increases directly to the accumulating greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas.

In a peer-reviewed study, “The Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires,” climate scientists show that nearly 20 million acres of the total amount of land burned by forest fires across the Western United States and Canada since 1986 can be attributed to the carbon emissions from the products of the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.

Researchers explain that by trapping heat in the atmosphere, carbon pollution heats up the air, which is then able to hold more moisture.

Because it can hold more moisture, it draws more moisture from the soil and plants, leaving the soil drier and trees and vegetation weakened, diseased and more flammable.

Also included in the new attribution research is the threat to the health and well-being of those near and far who breathe wildfire smoke.

This smoke is full of tiny particles that can pass through the lungs and into the bloodstream, which can lead to higher incidences of asthma, heart disease and premature death from respiratory diseases.

There is no safe amount of exposure to wildfire smoke. As I write this, Santa Barbara County has just issued evacuation orders as well as an air quality alert warning residents of the smoke and ash pollution from the Lake Fire.

Today, 80% of all the energy used in the world comes from burning fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas.

Though mostly invisible — every minute of every day, all around the world — there are billions of tiny and large fires burning these fuels.

Under the hood, in the internal combustion engines of cars, trucks, boats and planes, these fuels are being combusted.

Huge power plants fire up these fuels to generate electricity. Inside many homes, tiny flames power our furnaces, hot water heaters, clothes dryers, stoves and ovens.

Science has connected the dots. We burn these fuels; they pollute the air; we breathe in their toxic pollution; millions die from respiratory disease.

Their carbon pollution accumulates in the atmosphere, trapping the sun’s heat like a blanket; the planet overheats, creating extreme weather and more death and destruction.

Lead researcher Kristina Dahl says, “Putting out fires, rebuilding after them, and building climate resilience is hugely expensive. Right now, ordinary people are having to pay those bills — whether through taxes or updating their homes to be safer. Yet, there’s a whole industry that has brought us to this point where the Western United States is more flammable. While we’re dealing with this increased risk and expense, they’re raking in record profits. It’s time for them to pay their fair share.”

Controlling wildfires in California costs taxpayers more than $3 billion a year, triple what it was 10 years ago.

California has now joined seven other states and many municipalities to hold polluters accountable for lying about their role in causing climate change. Local and state governments have filed more than 20 climate liability law suits against oil companies since 2017.

To protect residents from the effects of climate change, such as excessive heat, rising seas and extreme weather events, government budgets are being stretched to breaking. Taxpayers should not be burdened with these expenses.

Oil companies have known for years that their products cause climate change, yet they have denied or tried to cover up the connection.

A study published last year from Harvard University and the University of Potsdam in Germany found that Exxon’s climate models from 40 years ago accurately predicted the climate impacts we are seeing today.

Polluters should and must pay for the climate impacts their products have produced. It’s a simple idea — and most Americans already support it.

A recent poll revealed that 76% of Americans think large polluters should pay for the destructive emissions that overheat the planet and tarnish our air.

According to the 2023 Yale Climate Opinion Maps, 72% of Santa Barbara County residents support taxing fossil fuel companies.

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, recently introduced legislation, “Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act” (House Resolution 5744), which makes coal, oil and gas companies pay an increasing fee on their carbon pollution.

When big polluters get a free pass to harm the planet, they cost our communities dearly. It’s only fair that they pay for the harm they cause.