"Wildfire alert from Wasco County Sheriff's Office. Level 2 - BE SET to evacuate from Hwy 197, south to Hulse Rd, east to the Deschutes River, and from the intersection of Hwy 197 and Tygh Valley Market Rd, southeast to the Deschutes River."
https://member.everbridge.net/453003085612392/notif/K-GaHxHY7
California wildfires have burned five times the average this year, officials say
California’s wildfire season is off to a ferocious start,
with the state’s top wildfire official saying that fires have already burned through five times the average amount of land for this time of year.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Joe Tyler, the director of the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire), said the state has responded to more than 3,500 wildfires so far this year.
Together, those fires have scorched nearly 220,000 acres
– more than fives times above what is typical for mid-July, which is considered fairly early in the state’s wildfire season.
“We are not just in a fire season, we are in a fire year,” Tyler said at the news conference.
“Our winds and the recent heatwave have exacerbated the issue, consuming thousands of acres.
So we need to be extra cautious.”
Authorities across the US west have warned of the rising risk of wildfires amid a protracted heatwave that has dried out the landscape and smashed temperatures records from California to Oregon to Nevada.
“Climate change is real,” said California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, on Wednesday. “
Those extremes are here present every day in the great state of California.”
An abundantly wet winter has left landscapes across California coated in grasses that quickly dried as the weather warmed,
creating abundant fuel for fast-burning brush fires.
California crews are now working in scorching temperatures to battle numerous wildfires on Thursday,
including a stubborn 34,000-acre blaze known as the #LakeFire, which prompted evacuation orders for about 200 homes in the mountains of Santa Barbara county, north-west of Los Angeles.
In Oregon on Thursday, crews were battling the #LarchCreekFire, which has grown to more than 11,000 acres since Tuesday.
Lower temperatures and calming winds were helping the crews’ efforts, but the local fire danger level remained extreme. One firefighter was treated for heat-related injuries.
In Hawaii, Haleakala national park on Maui was closed as firefighters battled a blaze on the slopes of a mountain. Visitors in more than 150 vehicles that had gone up on Wednesday for the famous sunset views were not able to descend until about 4am on Thursday because the narrow roads were blocked by fire crews
AI6YR Ben
Chuck Darwin