Tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate in California, entire areas of which were covered in thick clouds of smoke on Friday. The state is in the throes of one of the worst fires in its history.
Fires started by thousands of lightning bolts, and fueled by record-breaking heat and low humidity, have already claimed the lives of at least five people, authorities said. One of the biggest blazes, the LNU Lightning Complex, alone had nearly 90,000 hectares in smoke on Friday morning.
In particular, it threatened the vines of Napa and Sonoma counties, which had already been exposed to such fires in recent years.
The risks of infection with the new coronavirus pushed some of the tens of thousands of evacuees to find refuge in car parks or by beaches, rather than in the accommodation centers offered by the authorities.
In a speech at the Democratic convention Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom stressed the direct cause and effect link between climate change and these fires. His state also recorded on Sunday what could be the third hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth: 54.4 ° C in the Valley of Death.
The deadliest fire in California history, dubbed Camp Fire, took place in November 2018 in the upstate. He had made 86 deaths.
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