a fire in northern California gets out of hand

a Forest fire burning for a week in northern California, United States, was still spiraling out of control, in what is one of twelve major conflagrations in a drought-stricken state that destroyed hundreds of structures and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

There was no containment on Sunday for the Caldor fire, which had destroyed about 399 square kilometers (154 square miles) of trees and shrubs in the northern Sierra Nevada. The cause of the fire, which broke out on August 14, was still under investigation and it is not excluded that it is the product of human action.

The firefighters hoped to take advantage of a calmer climate and lower temperatures a day after gusts of wind swept away the fire on Federal Highway 50, threatening communities further afield in El Dorado County.

The erratic winds made blow up the embers in dry branches, creating new ignition points and challenging teams trying to fight the flames over rough terrain.

“We know that this fire did things that nobody could predictBut that’s how firefighting has been in the state this year, ”said Jeff Marsolais, chief supervisor of the El Dorado National Forest.

Global warming

Several large forest fires have incinerated at least 700 accomodations, many of them in or around the communities of Greenville and Grizzly Flats of the Sierra Nevada. About 13,000 residences remained endangered in places hidden in picturesque forests.

The fires consumed approximately 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) and sent smoke to the east coast of the United States. They burned in extremely dry grass, brush and forest after two years of drought likely exacerbated by climate change.

Nine California National Forests have been closed by the threat of fires.

Northwest of the Caldor fire, the massive Dixie fire continued to spread. Within five weeks, the fire broke out 282 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of San Francisco, became the second largest in state history and blacked out an area twice the size of Los Angeles. It was 37% content.

Tired

California is one of a dozen states, primarily in the western part of the nation, where 94 fires The big ones burned down until Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The fires have intensified in the western United States, creating a season for most of the year. which exhausted the firefighters.

The fire patterns migrated seasonally from the southwest to the Rocky Mountains, then to the Pacific Northwest, then to California, allow firefighters move from location to location, said Anthony Scardina, deputy regional ranger for the US Forest Service.

Source: AP

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