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State of emergency declared in five California counties due to blazes

Thousands forced to evacuate two weeks ago, as wildfires rage in Vacaville, California

 

State of emergency declared in five California counties due to blazes

 

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | SEPTEMBER 7th 2020

 

As a cause of the severe wildfires burning through the regions of California, the Governor Gavin Newsom had declared a state of emergency in five of the state’s counties on Sunday. The crisis is thought to be worsening, with the prompting of evacuations.

The declaration of the state of emergency was provoked by the Creek Fire, which had grown to burn some 45,000 acres of land after it had been sparked and got out of control sometimes around Friday night. The five counties put under the state of emergency are San Diego, Madera, Fresno, San Bernardino and Mariposa, according to the governor’s office.

After a rapidly travelling fire had moved to cut off the only road that led out of Mammoth Pool Reservoir, a recreational sight in the state’s Sierra National Forest with great popularity, over 200 people had to be airlifted out of the area and into safety. On Sunday, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office reported that 20 of the evacuees had to be transported to hospitals.

“The sky is so thick by my house; the sky is a dirty brown cloud and I live about 25 minutes to the west of the fire,” A Twitter user, Cris Mel, posted. “It’s kind of a struggle to breathe.”

Over the past three weeks of the wildfire crisis in the valley, it’s been noted that around 3,300 structures had been destroyed, primarily burned to the ground, and eight people have been reportedly killed. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), there was a massive struggle to contain the blaze on Sunday afternoon, all while over 15,000 firefighters were battling more spreading flames from across the state.

On top of the fire crisis, and the heat wave beating down on the state of California, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) had also declared a “stage 2” power emergency on Sunday. Stage 2 means that all mitigating actions had been taken, but the expected energy requirements can no longer be met for the upcoming period.

The long weeks of wildfire battles had only been exacerbated by the 49 degree Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) temperatures that scorched through the weekend of Labour Day, as well as further blackouts. The temperatures were called “rare, dangerous, and very possibly fatal” by the National Weather Service (NSW) who forecast the weekend heatwave.

One of the particularly dangerous wildfires, responsible for burning 7,000 acres of land, had been set off by a “pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party” according to CalFire. In a statement that was released on Sunday, CalFire said “The fire began at 10:23 am on September 5, 2020 in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa,” before proceeding to spread in a Northward direction.

“With the dry conditions and critical fire weather, it doesn’t take much to start a wildfire. Those responsible for starting fires due to negligence or illegal activity can be held financially and criminally responsible,” the CalFire department’s statement added.

Gender reveal parties are typically familial festivities in which soon-to-be parents gather friends and loved ones to reveal the gender of their unborn child, often in unnecessarily elaborate ways. The current blaze being battled in California is only the latest of fires to have been started by the 21st century, primarily American craze of gender reveal parties. One man named Dennis Dickey had, in the April of 2017, caused $8 million worth of damage to 47,000 acres of the Arizona forests after setting off a blue explosive at a gender reveal party.

California isn’t the only state suffering an influx of fires, as fears arise on the state of Oregon over what the NWS called an “extreme fire risk” on Sunday. The risk level of “extremely critical” is the highest level that can be issued by the NWS, and despite its announcement, it’s fairly rare to see such a risk as far as Oregon in the Northwest. The risk level of “extremely critical” is far more common to see in the Southwest, where the atmosphere tends to be drier. A mark of changing climate, and the growing threat of fires eventually spreading to becoming just as common all the way across America.

“Given these historic and threatening fire weather conditions, it is imperative to be EXTREMELY careful with fire leading up to and during this wind event, as any existing fires will very likely spread quickly once these strong winds set in,” the Portland, Oregon NWS office stated.

 

By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020

 

 

Categories:
Environment
Tags:
North AmericaUSACaliforniaWildfiresTrees and Forests