Because of their COVID response, or something else?

The constant wildfires make Californians feel at home there.

You import our eucalypts, you import our bushfires!

(For those not in the know: eucalyptus trees are extremely flammable. In very hot, dry conditions, their oil can become a vapour around them so that you would be well advised not to light a flame within a metre, as the tree may catch fire and occasionally even explode.)

That’s wild and unexpected. We (used to) burn eucalyptus for heating the house. A dry log will not light and stay lit without a healthy bed of coals in the wood stove.

I would think a tree adapted for brush fire would be more fire resistant. But a brief search does validate that on very hot days, the oil can vaporize and is indeed very flammable. The seasoned firewood must behave different than the live tree; the oil may have dried out at that point. TIL.

Various Australian trees actually depend on fire to propagate. I love going through areas that were burned out in recent months—you get fresh green growth springing up everywhere, and a lot of the trees that got burned become absolutely covered in fresh green sprouting branches, and it contrasts beautifully with the black from the burning.

Similar, pine trees in our former area require fire to propagate. Nature!