A massive forest fire has broken out in California. A heat wave is currently sweeping across the United States, increasing the risk of forest fires.
The West of United States has been suffering from extreme drought for many weeks. The drought has been too numerous in recent years forest fires – and the wildfire season seems to be dragging on in the US. For this year, the firefighters had feared particularly severe forest fires. Also because a heat wave in the western United States peaked last weekend, these fears now seem to be becoming reality. An overview.
Forest fire in the USA: Fire in Yosemite National Park in California
A wildfire broke out near Yosemite National Park in California on Friday. Local authorities said on Saturday that the flames were spreading “explosively”. Within 24 hours, the fire had already spread over 2,650 hectares of land. On Sunday it was said that the fire activity continued to an “extreme” extent.
The authorities in Calfire had already reported an affected area of 38 square kilometers on Saturday afternoon. The flames could not be contained at first, the so-called Oak Fire instead forced around 6,000 people to leave their own houses and apartments. About 2000 buildings are directly threatened by the forest fire.
Video: dpa
In Mariposa the fire is raging particularly powerfully. In the county east of San Francisco, the wildfire was 0 percent contained as of Saturday, according to fire protection and the Department of Forestry. There are around 400 firefighters on duty, who are also fighting the flames with firefighting helicopters. According to the Los Angeles Times it could be another week before the fire can be contained. The newspaper claims to have learned this from officials.
Heat wave rolls across the US
The United States is currently experiencing an extreme heat wave that peaked last weekend. It is very dry in large parts of the country, which is why the risk of forest fires is high. The National Weather Service had expected around 38 degrees in the capital Washington on Sunday. Temperatures of up to 35 degrees were measured in New York. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a “heat-related emergency”.
In addition to the forest fire in California, no massive fires have recently broken out in the USA. But the risk seems to be increasing day by day. In Europe, forest fires have been raging for weeks in many countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece. There were also several forest fires in Germany.
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