California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch US West

California’s largest fire burns homes as blazes scorch US West

California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the US West.

The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen houses and other structures when it combined with the Fly Fire and tore through the tiny Northern California community of Indian Falls.

Global warming has made the US West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years.

Cooler weather has helped calm two gigantic wildfires in the US West, but a tally of property losses mounted as authorities got better access to a tiny California community savaged by flames last weekend and to a remote area of southern Oregon where the nation’s largest blaze is still burning.

Evacuations ordered after two California wildfires converge into one

The Dixie fire joined with another one nearby on Saturday night, and firefighters have struggled to contain the blazes that have triggered evacuations in several communities. With the Dixie fire encroaching, the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office issued mandatory evacuation orders for the eastern shore of Lake Almanor where “personnel are conducting door to door notifications.” (AP)

Firefighters battle California blaze

Across the US West this summer, firefighters have confronted an unusually large number of wildfires early in the season as climate change continues to warm the landscape and drought grips most of the region. That’s making it harder to control and put out fires. (AP)

Western wildfires calm down, but losses grow

Teams reviewing damage from the massive Dixie Fire in the mountains of Northern California have so far counted 36 structures destroyed and seven damaged in the remote community of Indian Falls, reported Associated Press. The Dixie Fire has scorched more than 325 square miles (842 square kilometers), an area bigger than New York City, and it was partially contained Tuesday. More than 10,000 homes were threatened in the region about 175 miles (282 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.

Western wildfire smoke causes cross-country air pollution

In 13 western states, more than 80 large active wildfires have charred almost 1.3 million acres (526,090 hectares) of drought-parched vegetation in recent weeks, an area larger than Delaware, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho. The jet stream and other cross-continental air currents have carried smoke and ash thousands of miles. People in distant cities were feeling the air contamination in their eyes, noses and lungs.