The Mercury E-dition

4 500 firefighters battle inferno

THOUSANDS of US firefighters are battling a blaze in California that has grown so big it is generating its own weather system, with authorities warning conditions could worsen yesterday. The flames have grown so large that they have created clouds that can cause lightning and high winds, which in turn can serve to fuel the fire.

Around 5400 firefighters were struggling to contain the inferno.

The Dixie Fire has been raging in the forests of northern California since mid-July, part of a climate crisis that has brought sweltering heat and an alarming drought. Wildfires are common in the state but this summer has been particularly incendiary.

Fires have already ravaged three times more vegetation this year than they had at this time in 2020, the worst fire year in California’s history.

Rescue workers have been dispatched from as far away as Florida to help contain the Dixie Fire and its pyrocumulus clouds. Despite its size, the fire has so far ravaged extremely remote areas, destroying the few dozen homes and small buildings in its path.

Moving along steep slopes, the firefighters sometimes ride a train from which they can spray water on otherwise inaccessible areas.

The infernos in California and Oregon have come unusually early in the fire season, driven by the multi-year drought, gusty winds, and a scorching start to the summer that experts have linked to climate change.

The Dixie Fire broke out after a tree fell on one of the thousands of power lines that dot the landscape.

WORLD

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2021-07-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://themercury.pressreader.com/article/281663963040039

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