 The fires broke out after three years of below-normal rainfall dehydrated much of California's forests and woodlands, making them prone to wildfires.Spring 2008 for California was the driest on record for many locations; for example, San Francisco registered only of rain out of a normal of from March to May.As vegetation turned into bone-dry tinder in early June, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought for the first time in 17 years.