Months of near-zero precipitation and boiling temperatures have helped spark hundreds of wildfires in the West. More than three million acres as well as thousands of homes and businesses have burned to ashes in California alone. That’s 27 times the acreage burned in all of 2019, and possibly the most in more than a century. Choking smoke has spread across much of the Western and Central US, leading to the worst air quality conditions in decades. Nearly three dozen lives have been lost to the flames.
The Bidwell Bar Bridge is surrounded by fire in Lake Oroville during the Bear fire in Oroville, California, as dangerous wildfires rage across the state. https://t.co/M4BOsrBqY9 pic.twitter.com/fxkevRHuMb
— ABC News (@ABC) September 9, 2020
Firefighters have worked superhuman shifts to try to control the blazes, some going 48 to 72 hours without a break. Still, the high winds, hot temperatures, and severe drought conditions have turned forests up and down the West coast to kindling. Hundreds of wildfires have stretched fire management resources well beyond the breaking point. Evacuations have been required for hundreds of communities in Washington, Oregon, and California. Despite the evacuations, the death count is up to at least 35, including two dozen in California. Many more are missing as of Sunday night.
A historic heat wave has been one ingredient in the cataclysmic fires of late. Los Angeles County reported their highest temperature of all time on 6-Sept, 121 deg F ( deg C). Officials have cautioned that such high temperatures will lead to rolling blackouts unless stringent energy conservation measures are taken. To ease the strain on the power systems, California Governor Newsome has temporarily eased emissions regulations on suppliers. Unfortunately that will only decrease air quality as wildfire smoke combines with industrial emissions. Only months after enjoying some of the cleanest air in decades due to the COVID shutdown, ozone levels reached 185 ppb in Los Angeles last Sunday. That’s the highest level since 1994, in the “Very Unhealthy” category. Other major West Coast cities like Portland and San Francisco, and even into southern British Columbia, have reported similarly hazardous air quality readings in recent weeks. Satellite imagery shows smoke from the fires is being carried as far east as the Midwest and Great Lakes.