Fueled by warm weather and gusty winds, more than 70 large fires were blazing across the United States on Wednesday. Most of them are in the West, where tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes to escape encroaching flames.
In recent days, a severe heat wave has helped ignite new fires. Windy conditions expected Wednesday could cause them to swell quickly or to create new difficult-to-control blazes, officials say. At least one of the three major fires in Southern California, the Line fire, was an act of arson, and authorities arrested a man on Tuesday.
So far this year, fires have torn through more than 6.9 million acres across the country. That’s the most acres that have burned by early September since 2018, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Here’s the latest on some of the major blazes:
— No state is battling more large fires than Oregon, where there are 24 burning. In close second is Idaho, with 22. Firefighters say they hope that cooler and wetter weather this week will help curb the growth of the fires.
— Though windy conditions could still prove a challenge, cooler temperatures in Southern California arriving Wednesday are expected to aid efforts to fight three fires that have erupted in recent days in the mountains near Los Angeles, where temperatures had been pushing 110 degrees during a brutal heat wave.
— California is primed for fire after two consecutive winters of heavy rain, which fed the growth of brush and other plants throughout the state. After a hot summer, that vegetation has become parched, experts said, and ready to burn.
— Ten states across the West have been placed under red flag warnings and fire watches, indicating that conditions across the region will be prone to further fire spread and fire activity across Wednesday, as a multiday heat wave breaks. Though conditions are expected to improve rapidly by Thursday, dry air and wind will continue to hamper fire prevention efforts through the evening.
California: One of the three major blazes in the Los Angeles region known as the Line fire has grown to about 34,000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains east of the city, and is threatening 65,000 structures. Firefighters expect the blaze, which was 14% contained as of Tuesday night, to spread east toward Big Bear, known for vacation homes and ski resorts.
Closer to Los Angeles, a blaze in the San Gabriel Mountains known as the Bridge fire has ballooned to more than 46,000 acres.
A brush fire known as the Airport fire, which erupted Monday afternoon in a rural area of Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, appears to be moving northeast toward less populated parts of neighboring Riverside County. As of Tuesday evening, it had grown to 19,000 acres. Firefighters were already benefiting Tuesday from slightly cooler temperatures.
Nevada: The Davis fire, which began over the weekend between Reno and Carson City, had spread to about 5,000 acres as of Tuesday evening. Meteorologists believe high winds and dry conditions on Wednesday could allow the fire, as well as new potential blazes, to grow rapidly out of control and prevent people from safely evacuating.
Oregon: A blaze in rural central Oregon known as the Rail Ridge fire has destroyed a handful of homes and grown to more than 157,000 acres, five times the size of San Francisco. Officials said cooler, wetter weather this week would make it easier to contain the fire, which began Sept. 2. Even before this latest round of fires, Oregon last month surpassed its long-standing record for acres burned in a year.
Idaho: In Idaho, an enormous fire in the Boise National Forest merged this week with another, creating a blaze about 40 miles north of Idaho’s capital city that has now burned a total of more than 78,000 acres. But it’s not even the largest fire in the state.
The Wapiti fire, also in the Boise National Forest, was sparked by lightning in July and had grown to more than 120,000 acres. The fire, which officials say has been fueled by an abundance of extremely dry vegetation, is 12% contained.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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