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In remarks delivered to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s aviation management unit in Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown warned that earlier wildfire seasons will become the new norm thanks to climate change.[LATimes]

[California] firefighters have responded to about twice the average number of wildfires so far this year – more than 1,100 in all.

“Our climate is changing, the weather is becoming more intense,” Brown said in an airplane hangar filled with trucks, airplanes and helicopters used by the state to fight fires. “It’s going to cost a lot of money and a lot of lives.

“The big issue (is) how do we adapt,” Brown said ,“because it doesn’t look like the people who are in charge are going to do what it takes to really slow down this climate change, so we are going to have to adapt. And adapting is going to be very, very expensive.”

With the snowpack in the Sierra mountains at just 17% of normal, state officials are bracing for a long, destructive fire season.