wave of “extreme heat” and alarming fire in California

The fire is spreading alarmingly. The “Oak Fire”, described as “explosive” by the authorities, broke out on Friday July 22 in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park and its giant sequoias. At the same time, a wave of “extreme heat” hits tens of millions of Americans this weekend, with many temperature records expected in the central and northeast.

The fire has already moved through some 4,800 acres, destroying ten properties and damaging five others, according to a bulletin Saturday from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Several roads were cut and several areas were ordered to evacuate, while the fire, from a “extreme activity” and fought by more than 500 firefighters, was not under control on Saturday, according to the same source.

Officials quoted by the newspaper Los Angeles Times estimated that it would probably take a week to contain it. More than 6,000 people were evacuated, according to a spokesperson for the California fire department, adding that employees from various departments were flocking from all over the state to lend a hand.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday proclaimed the“emergency state” in Mariposa County, due to a “extreme danger to the safety of persons and property”. This allows in particular to release funding. According to a climatologist from the University of California at Los Angeles, Daniel Swain, the fire “has spread significantly in almost all directions, (…) din a context of high fuel load and extreme drought”.

“The series of relatively small, non-destructive wildfires that have raged in California so far this season appear to be over”, he added on Twitter. The American West has already experienced forest fires of exceptional magnitude and intensity in recent years, with a very marked lengthening of the fire season, a phenomenon that scientists attribute to climate change.