The biggest fire of the year in California leaves at least two people dead

In the north of the state of California, very close to the border with Oregon, the McKinney forest fire is uncontrollable. Since last Friday the flames began to consume the forests in the area, which so far have left 21,000 hectares burned and two people dead.

On Sunday night, the authorities reported that they found two bodies inside a burnt-out car, without giving further information.

According to reports from the California Fire Department (Cal Fire), the causes of the fire are being investigated and the flames have been impossible to contain.

Some homes have been burned, mainly in Siskiyou County, where the Klamath National Forest is located, forcing at least 2,000 people to evacuate.

“I am very sad. My house is gone, all my furniture, all my clothes, shoes, coats, boots. Everything is gone,” said Althea Schwander, an 81-year-old artist who was housed in a shelter. the Red Cross.

The McKinney Fire is located in a tourist location, traversed by the Pacific Crest Trail, a special national hiking trail. According to some local media, at least 60 hikers have been rescued and taken to safe places.

Meanwhile, tanker planes, bulldozers and handheld equipment are used to contain the flames, without much success. The density of the smoke has hampered firefighters’ efforts.

California is experiencing a series of devastating fires

At the same time, two more fires are registered in the same county, which has a population of approximately 44,000 people.

Year after year the situation worsens in California. More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures make the situation more difficult each summer. The year 2020 and 2021 had already left strong havoc and during this season the situation is similar.

This is the second major forest fire in California this summer, after the so-called Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park. This conflagration began on July 22 and has not yet been fully controlled, consuming more than 7,600 hectares and at least 182 houses.

Financial aid for phenomena caused by climate change

The fires have left thousands affected. California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an emergency declaration to help residents access federal financial aid and unlock state resources.

For her part, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, will announce economic aid from Miami for more than 1,000 million dollars for the entire country, in order to prepare for and respond to disasters caused by climate change.

Simultaneously with the fires that destroyed California and Montana, the state of Kentucky suffered severe flooding last Friday, considered the worst in the country’s history, leaving at least 28 people dead.

“We know that the impacts of the climate crisis are here and that we must invest in building resilience to protect our communities, infrastructure and economy,” the White House said in a statement. The aid will be destined for the 53 states, territories and the federal capital.

It is expected that for next year, the budget for managing emergencies due to climate change will exceed 2,300 million dollars and will have “emphasis on increasing resilience to the impacts of the climate crisis and extreme weather events”, pronounced the Joe Biden administration.

Weather conditions worsen, what does science say?

So far in 2022, it has been marked by extreme weather situations. The events in the United States are not isolated, vast areas of Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, Croatia and Turkey have been consumed by strong fires, a consequence of the strongest heat waves in their history.

In Asia, the heavy rains of the monsoon season have left at least 40 dead and around six million people affected in India and Bangladesh, a situation that has worsened with the passing of the years.

Some scientists attribute these extreme conditions to the warming of the Arctic, which is increasing its temperature three to four times faster than the rest of the Earth, which means that the temperature of the north is increasingly similar to that of the equator.

According to Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the WoodwellEso Climate Research Center (WCRC), the rapid warming of the Arctic is related to changes in the climate in North America and Eurasia and periods of extreme temperature and/or precipitation in these territories.

The increasingly frequent changes in the weather

Many international scientists indicate that the burning of fossil fuels and their consequent expulsion of gases that end up in the atmosphere generating a greenhouse effect is the main reason that the planet’s climate is presenting alterations.

“Climate change is making unprecedented and extreme heat events more intense and more common, almost universally around the world,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The planet is experiencing changes in wind patterns and weather systems due to climate change that, according to Francis, “make these heat waves, like the ones we’re seeing now, more intense, more persistent, and cover areas that simply aren’t there.” accustomed to having heat waves”, like the one recently experienced in the United Kingdom.

Scientists believe that natural phenomena will become more severe if drastic measures are not taken to contain the ecological damage caused by human beings.

With Reuters and EFE