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Firefighters in the western United States face “another critical day” as thunderstorms push flames to two towns not far from the Dixie Fire in California Destroyed most of the historical community last week.
The thunderstorm that started on Friday did not produce much rain, but it set off strong winds and triggered lightning strikes, forcing staff to focus on using bulldozers to lay the lines and prevent the fire from spreading to Westwood.
This small town with about 1,700 people was ordered to evacuate on August 5.
Jack Cagle, the head of operations for the fire east zone, said wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) also pushed the fire to another small town called Janesville, where there are about 1,500 residents.
“It was a very difficult day yesterday afternoon. In the evening (the crew) cleaned up the mess and tried to use the resources they had to do everything they could to ensure an advantage,” he said in a briefing on Saturday.
Cagle said that due to a similar thunderstorm forecast on Saturday, firefighters are facing “another critical day, yet another challenging day.”
The fire was one of more than 100 large wildfires in more than a dozen states in the western United States. Dry and hot, dry weather turned forests, bushes, grasslands and pastures into fire.
last week, The fire destroyed the historic gold rush town of GreenwoodBecause the flames destroyed more than 1,000 houses and businesses and destroyed the downtown area of ​​the community, residents were forced to flee.
The US Forest Service said on Friday that it is operating in a crisis mode, fully deploying firefighters and maximizing the role of its support system.
Anthony Scardina, the agency’s deputy forester in the Pacific Southwest, said that the approximately 21,000 federal firefighters working on the ground are two of the number of firefighters sent to control forest fires at this time a year ago. Times more.
Only more than 6,000 firefighters are fighting the Dixie fire, which has raged nearly 2,100 square kilometers (845 square miles)-the size of Tokyo-and has been controlled by 31%.
Johnnie Brookwood, a resident of Greenville, who was forced to flee the wildfire, told the Associated Press at her third evacuation center: “The scale is unimaginable, its duration and its impact on these people, including me. Inside, it’s incredible.”
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Pacific Gas and Electric Company said the fire may have been caused by a tree falling on the power line.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there is a danger of new fires due to unstable weather conditions, including extreme heat in the northern half of the west and thunderstorms that may bring lightning to Northern California, Oregon, and Nevada.
On Saturday afternoon, a fast-spreading fire east of Salt Lake City, Utah, closed Interstate 80 and prompted the evacuation of Summit Park, a mountain community with 6,600 people. Fire officials said the fire was burning about 8 square kilometers (3 square miles) and threatened thousands of houses and electrical wires.
In southeastern Montana, two fires swept across vast pastures and once threatened the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Firefighters are making progress.
Fire spokesperson Peggy Miller said the fire was caused by the heat of the coal seams, which are coal deposits found underground in the area. She added that due to poor air quality, forced evacuation in the tribal headquarters town of Lame Deer still exists.
On August 10, near Taylorsville, California, a firefighter continues to guard the line of defense against the Dixie fire [David Swanson/Reuters]According to the U.S. Air Quality Index, smog has also brought air pollution levels to unhealthy or very unhealthy levels in parts of Northern California, Oregon, and Idaho.
Fire officials said that hot and dry weather and strong afternoon winds have also caused several fires in Washington State, and similar weather is expected over the weekend.
Climate change has made the western United States warmer and drier in the past 30 years, and will continue to make the weather more extreme and drier. Wildfires are more destructive, The scientist warned.
In western Canada and Europe, including Greece, there are also dozens of fires burning. Destroyed forests and burned houses.
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