This year’s largest wildfire in California is destroying houses and ripping through the state’s arid landscape, whipped up by strong winds and lightning storms on Sunday.
CalFire reported that the McKinney Fire, which had burnt over 51,000 acres near the city of Yreka in the Klamath National Forest in northern California, was entirely out of control.
It is the largest wildfire in California so far this year, which has previously battled a number of other blazes.
“Destroyed homes” and “threatening essential infrastructure” have been attributed to the wildfire that broke out in California on Friday.
Newsom stated in a statement that the blaze was “intensified and spread by dry fuels, terrible drought conditions, high temperatures, winds and lightning storms”
According to the California Office of Emergency Services, more than 2,000 people were under evacuation orders and approximately 200 people were under evacuation alerts in Siskiyou County.
“People in the immediate region should be prepared to evacuate if necessary. Please do not delay in evacuating the area “a tweet from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office
Roads around the Klamath River, including Highway 96 and McKinney Creed Road, were closed to the public, CalFire reported.
When earlier fires in recent years taught them that things may turn “very, very severe,” Yreka homeowner Larry Castle told The Sacramento Bee that he and his wife had packed up their few goods and their three dogs to leave the region for the night.
As of Sunday, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group said that around 650 workers were working to put out the blaze.
According to the Oregon State Fire Marshal, the Klamath National Forest is also dealing with the Kelsey Creek Fire, therefore additional firefighting resources were dispatched from adjacent Oregon to assist with containment efforts.
The cause of the blaze is still “under investigation,” according to CalFire.
As a result of “a thick smoke inversion,” the fire’s expansion was slowed on Sunday, according to the US Forest Service, which also meant that firefighters’ planes were “largely grounded.”
In an effort to halt the fire’s growth, US Forest Service (USFS) firefighters were working near Fort Jones and west of Yreka.
After the previous year’s largest fire in central California, the record-breaking firestorm was started.
At the beginning of July, the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park began to expand, destroying 41 buildings and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
The fire season will last for months still in California, which is suffering from a severe drought.
Climate change has caused wildfires to rage across the western United States in recent years, particularly in California and other states in the region.
This year has seen significant wildfires in other parts of the world as well.
Temperatures in Europe climbed rapidly during the weekend, resulting in catastrophic forest fires in Portugal and France on Sunday.
An arson attack on Mafra, north of Lisbon, in Portugal and a firefighter-injury incident in France forced the closure of many major highways in both countries.
A large number of firefighters were dispatched to tackle the flames north of Lisbon, which was around 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter.
Authorities in Germany say that four people were hurt over the weekend as hundreds of firemen battled a blaze in the east of the country.
Heat waves are becoming more frequent and more powerful, according to scientists, as a result of climate change. This, they say, is increasing the danger of wildfires.
