Did irrigation contribute to California wildfires? (Disclaimer: Speculative)

[ScienceNostalgia101]

One of the advantages to farming in a dry state like California is that with less rain, you have so much more sunlight.

 

One of the disadvantages is that you have to use a hell of a lot of non-salty water just to make it work. What I'm wondering is, what's stopping it from seeping into the groundwater, and gradually shifting toward non-farmland vegetation that could use it too?

 

I look at the fact that California is on fire again; it seems to be an annual thing; and I find it odd that such a supposedly dry state could have naturally built up enough combustible vegetation in the first place to sustain several years' worth of forest fires. I cannot think of any other state as fire-prone as California. Could irrigation have played a role in this, or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

Edited November 13, 2018 by ScienceNostalgia101

[mistermack]

I don't think that the vegetation that's been burning has the ability to reach groundwater from crop irrigation. Maybe the vegetation around homes might get some benefit from garden sprinklers, but I doubt that too. 

If you look at fields that are irrigated, even the rough ground nearby looks unaffected, so miles away in the hills and suburbs isn't likely to see any effect. 

California has been experiencing a drought, from 2011 to 2017 so there's a lot of dead stuff lying around. It doesn't rot very quickly in dry conditions, so it sits there till the next fire.