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A12 HEALTH
Friday 18 September 2020

Lightning storm, easterly wind: How the wildfires got so bad

By ANDREW SELSKY landscape littered with the
Associated Press twisted remains of mobile
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — It began homes and other structures.
as a stunning light show on The flames were so intense
a mid-August weekend — that firefighters sometimes
lightning bolts crackling in had to retreat, including
the skies over Northern and those facing a blaze threat-
Central California, touch- ening Portland's southeast-
ing down in grasslands and ern suburbs.
vineyards. "You can't really stand
The National Weather Ser- there with a hose when
vice warned that the dry you've got 30-mile-an-hour
lightning striking a parched winds and dry fuels," Gers-
landscape "could lead to bach said.
new wildfire." Firefighters from across the
It turned out to be a huge nation and Canada have
understatement. Thou- descended on the region
sands of bolts ignited hun- to help fight the blazes:
dreds of fires in California There are more than 17,000
and at least one in Oregon, in California fighting over
setting the stage for some two dozen major fires, and
of the most destructive more than 6,000 facing
wildfires the West Coast about a dozen blazes in Or-
states have seen in modern In this Aug. 16, 2020, file photo, lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a egon.
times. storm passes over Oakland, Calif. About 5,300 square miles
One month later, firefight- Associated Press (13,700 square kilometers)
ers are still battling them, have burned this year in
and at least 34 people ning strikes, the West's fire Jones, a professor and re- drooped as if in surrender. California — more than
have died in California, Or- season had been slightly search climatologist at Lin- The smoke stretched clear ever before, Cal Fire said. In
egon and Washington. more severe than normal. field University in McMin- across the continent and Oregon, the figure is about
"What really was jaw In Oregon, officials had de- nville, Oregon. Normally, even blew over parts of Eu- 1,560 square miles (4,000
dropping for people was cided to not let fires grow, the winds that time of year rope. square kilometers), nearly
the fact that this really ordering that even small go in the opposite direc- Armies of firefighters re- double the 10-year aver-
changed the paradigm blazes be smothered quick- tion. sponded. Clad in orange age.
that people have in terms ly by aircraft, so throngs Those gusts pushed the fires fire-resistant suits and hel- Residents are desperately
of their sense of security," of firefighters wouldn't be through trees and brush mets and carrying Pulaski hoping for rain to wash
said Oregon Department needed and potentially that had been drying out hand tools, they trudged away the choking wild-
of Forestry spokesman Jim spread the coronavirus, all summer, causing the across blackened earth to- fire smoke. Predicted rains
Gersbach. "These burned Gersbach said. blazes to explode in size ward the flames. National in fire-hit parts of Oregon
so close to populated ar- But then came the week- and sending them rushing Guard troops joined the haven't arrived yet. Cali-
eas, driven by this wind — end of Aug. 15-16. into towns and rural homes. effort. Even local residents fornia remains dry, though
basically unstoppable." "It's been a pretty insane 12 Many residents barely had tried to save homes by calming winds and lower
The massive wildfires re- hours across the Bay Area," time to flee with just the gouging firelines by hand temperatures — caused in
newed a longstanding de- the National Weather Ser- clothes on their back. and with excavators and part by the smoke blotting
bate over whether climate vice forecasters reported, Jones called the weather bulldozers. out the sun — have aided
change or a lack of aggres- after the lightning storm conditions "likely a once in "You gotta pull together in firefighters. Small amounts
sive forest management during which white-hot a generation event." times like this because it's of rain are in the forecast
played the bigger role this bolts licked at the span of For the first time ever, five like a war zone out here," for far northern California
time around. Numerous San Francisco's landmark megafires — defined as Kerry Kuenzi, an area resi- and the Sierra Nevada.
studies have found that a Bay Bridge. covering at least 100,000 dent who with several doz- More than 38,000 people
warming Earth, which leads But that was just Act I. acres (405 square kilome- en others fought a monster are still not able to re-
to higher temperatures and Act II came three weeks ters — were ablaze simul- fire in the community of turn home in California,
drier landscape, increases later, when another freak taneously in Oregon last Scotts Mills, Oregon, told Gov. Gavin Newsom said
the likelihood of extreme weather phenomenon oc- week. The Oregonian/Oregon- Wednesday. Some 4,000
events and contributes to curred. Smoke covered the West Live. people remain in shelters in
their severity. But many ex- A vast high-pressure zone Coast states, creating The Beachie Creek Fire he Oregon, according to the
perts have also argued that stretching from Alaska to some of the most hazard- faced covered less than a American Red Cross.
more needs to be done to the desert in the South- ous air quality in the world. square mile (2 square kilo- Some no longer have
thin forests and reduce de- west gave Denver a sum- Seattle's iconic Space meters) on Sept. 7. Over- homes to return to. About
bris so that flames have less mer snowfall while pushing Needle was all but hidden night, driven by high winds 1,600 homes were de-
fuel. warm, dry winds toward in brown haze, topped and extremely dry fuels, it stroyed in Oregon, the
Before the cluster of light- the Pacific coast, said Greg with an American flag that grew to 205 square miles state Office of Emergency
(530 square kilometers), fire Management said, and
managers said. 4,200 structures burned in
New fires continued to ig- California.
nite in California and Or- For some of those whose
egon. One burned near homes have survived, it's
Interstate 5 in Oregon not too dangerous to return.
far from the California With the fire season not yet
state line, turning most of over, residents are praying
the towns of Phoenix and for a respite before the next
Talent into a blackened batch of large wildfires.q