This week’s fires in northern California have threatened cannabis crops and destroyed around 1,500 structures, including homes and businesses.

Counties within northern California’s Emerald Triangle of cannabis cultivation have been affected by the fires. At least seven cannabis farms were destroyed, making it the “worst year on record for California growers,” Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, said Tuesday.

More than one-third of the association’s leaders were evacuating or helping neighbors to escape the flames.

“I had one conversation today where the family was in tears,” Allen said. “We don’t know how we’re going to make it to January, let alone next planting season.”

According to Tawnie Logan, chair of the Sonoma County Growers Alliance, a lot of people have lost their farms in the last 36 hours. Unlike wineries, cannabis farmers cannot obtain crop or fire insurance, therefore they won’t be able to recover the millions in anticipated revenue they lost.

SPARC’s farm, that was preparing to harvest its outdoor crop in Sonoma County, was subject to substantial damage. Another farm, Sonoma County Cannabis Company, was affected by the fires.

Adding to the cultivation losses, the fires occurred at a bad time for cannabis farmers, right at the beginning of harvest season. Farmers had been cutting for the last couple weeks, and the strains were just getting ready to be harvested. Smoke-exposed crops are also more susceptible to diseases and can lead to unhealthy levels of mold, mildew, and fungus.

According to county surveys, the number of cannabis gardens in Sonoma County might be anywhere from 3,000 to 9,000. Northern California is home to the world’s largest concentration of cannabis farms, and in Sonoma County, an acre of cannabis is worth an estimated $1.7 million.

Allen said, “It’s located right there between three counties where so much of our product comes from, and its proximity to the Bay Area makes it a huge marketplace, with a lot of processing and manufacturing; just a huge industrial leader in general.”

The fire damages come in at a time California’s Office of Cannabis Control is establishing new regulations for the social and medical use of cannabis. With the fires threatening this year’s cultivations, it is unsure whether the outdoor harvests in northern California will be able to pass rigorous testing standards.