buh buh biden
2021-08-12 07:43:49 UTC
GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) Californias largest single wildfire in recorded
history continued to grow Wednesday after destroying more than 1,000
buildings, nearly half of them homes, while authorities in Montana ordered
evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote
communities.
The dangerous fires were among some 100 large blazes burning across 15
states, mostly in the West, where historic drought conditions have left
lands parched and ripe for ignition.
Burning through bone-dry trees, brush and grass, the Dixie Fire has
destroyed at least 1,045 buildings, including 550 homes, in the northern
Sierra Nevada. Newly released satellite imagery showed the scale of the
destruction in the small community of Greenville that was incinerated last
week during an explosive run of flames.
The Dixie Fire, named after the road where it started on July 14, by
Wednesday morning covered 783 square miles (2,027 square kilometers) and
was 30% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection. At least 14,000 remote homes were still threatened.
The Dixie Fire is the largest single fire in California history and the
largest currently burning in the U.S. It is about half the size of the
August Complex, a series of lightning-caused 2020 fires across seven
counties that were fought together and that state officials consider
Californias largest wildfire overall.
The fires cause was under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric has said
it may have been sparked when a tree fell on one of its power lines.
California authorities arrested a man last weekend who is suspected in an
arson fire in remote forested areas near the Dixie Fire.
The 47-year-old suspect was charged with setting a small blaze in Lassen
County, which is among the counties where the larger blaze is burning,
around July 20.
In southeastern Montana, the uncontrolled Richard Spring Fire continued to
advance Wednesday toward inhabited areas in and around the sparsely-
populated Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, after several thousand
people were ordered to evacuate the previous night.
Two homes caught fire Tuesday but were saved, authorities said.
The fire began Sunday and powerful gusts caused it to explode across more
than 230 square miles (600 square kilometers).
A few miles from the evacuated town of Lame Deer, Krystal Two Bulls and
some friends stuck around to clear brush from her yard in hopes of
protecting it from the flames. Thick plumes of smoke rose from behind a
tree-covered ridgeline just above the house.
Were packed and were loaded so if we have to go, we will, Two Bull
said. Im not fearful; Im prepared. Here you dont just run from fire or
abandon your house.
Some of the people who fled the fire Tuesday initially sought shelter in
Lame Deer, only to be displaced again when the fire got within several
miles.
The town of about 2,000 people is home to the tribal headquarters and
several subdivisions and is surrounded by rugged, forested terrain. By
late Wednesday a second fire was closing in on Lame Deer from the west,
while the Richard Spring fire raged to the east.
Also ordered to leave were about 600 people in and around Ashland, a small
town just outside the reservation with a knot of businesses along its main
street and surrounded by grasslands and patchy forest.
The flames were within several miles of town and came right up to a
subdivision outside it.
Local, state and federal firefighters were joined by ranchers using their
own heavy equipment to carve out fire lines around houses.
Heat waves and historic drought tied to climate change have made wildfires
harder to fight in the American West.
Scientists have said climate change has made the region much warmer and
drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more
extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. The fires across the
West come as parts of Europe are also enduring large blazes spurred by
tinder-dry conditions.
https://apnews.com/article/business-science-fires-environment-and-nature-
california-ae696fedb55c81fb3b0ae697546c602d
history continued to grow Wednesday after destroying more than 1,000
buildings, nearly half of them homes, while authorities in Montana ordered
evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote
communities.
The dangerous fires were among some 100 large blazes burning across 15
states, mostly in the West, where historic drought conditions have left
lands parched and ripe for ignition.
Burning through bone-dry trees, brush and grass, the Dixie Fire has
destroyed at least 1,045 buildings, including 550 homes, in the northern
Sierra Nevada. Newly released satellite imagery showed the scale of the
destruction in the small community of Greenville that was incinerated last
week during an explosive run of flames.
The Dixie Fire, named after the road where it started on July 14, by
Wednesday morning covered 783 square miles (2,027 square kilometers) and
was 30% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection. At least 14,000 remote homes were still threatened.
The Dixie Fire is the largest single fire in California history and the
largest currently burning in the U.S. It is about half the size of the
August Complex, a series of lightning-caused 2020 fires across seven
counties that were fought together and that state officials consider
Californias largest wildfire overall.
The fires cause was under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric has said
it may have been sparked when a tree fell on one of its power lines.
California authorities arrested a man last weekend who is suspected in an
arson fire in remote forested areas near the Dixie Fire.
The 47-year-old suspect was charged with setting a small blaze in Lassen
County, which is among the counties where the larger blaze is burning,
around July 20.
In southeastern Montana, the uncontrolled Richard Spring Fire continued to
advance Wednesday toward inhabited areas in and around the sparsely-
populated Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, after several thousand
people were ordered to evacuate the previous night.
Two homes caught fire Tuesday but were saved, authorities said.
The fire began Sunday and powerful gusts caused it to explode across more
than 230 square miles (600 square kilometers).
A few miles from the evacuated town of Lame Deer, Krystal Two Bulls and
some friends stuck around to clear brush from her yard in hopes of
protecting it from the flames. Thick plumes of smoke rose from behind a
tree-covered ridgeline just above the house.
Were packed and were loaded so if we have to go, we will, Two Bull
said. Im not fearful; Im prepared. Here you dont just run from fire or
abandon your house.
Some of the people who fled the fire Tuesday initially sought shelter in
Lame Deer, only to be displaced again when the fire got within several
miles.
The town of about 2,000 people is home to the tribal headquarters and
several subdivisions and is surrounded by rugged, forested terrain. By
late Wednesday a second fire was closing in on Lame Deer from the west,
while the Richard Spring fire raged to the east.
Also ordered to leave were about 600 people in and around Ashland, a small
town just outside the reservation with a knot of businesses along its main
street and surrounded by grasslands and patchy forest.
The flames were within several miles of town and came right up to a
subdivision outside it.
Local, state and federal firefighters were joined by ranchers using their
own heavy equipment to carve out fire lines around houses.
Heat waves and historic drought tied to climate change have made wildfires
harder to fight in the American West.
Scientists have said climate change has made the region much warmer and
drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more
extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. The fires across the
West come as parts of Europe are also enduring large blazes spurred by
tinder-dry conditions.
https://apnews.com/article/business-science-fires-environment-and-nature-
california-ae696fedb55c81fb3b0ae697546c602d