At least 5,500 hectares of forest have been devoured by the flames, a direct result of a sweltering heat wave that has affected the United States since Friday.
A violent fire that has struck a Californian forest since Friday continued to spread on Sunday, causing the evacuation of thousands of people, while very high heat affects tens of millions of Americans across the country. The fire, baptizedOak Fire”, stretches near Yosemite National Park and its famous giant sequoias. He “has grown considerably in the northern part, moving further into the Sierra National Forest,” according to a Sunday bulletin from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Favored by aextreme drought“, the winds and the rises in temperature, the fire, fought by some 2,000 firefighters, burned at least 5,500 hectares of forest, destroyed 10 properties, damaged five others and threatened more than 2,500, told AFP a spokesperson for this department.
Consequence of an intense heat wave
More than 6,000 people, mostly living in small high-altitude communities, had already been evacuated on Saturday, according to another California fire department spokesman, quoted by the newspaper. Los Angeles Times. A state of emergency was declared by state governor Gavin Newsom. Yosemite Park, one of the most famous in the world, had experienced a fire in mid-July, the flames of which threatened its giant sequoias. The American West has already experienced forest fires of exceptional magnitude and intensity in recent years, with a very marked lengthening of the fire season, a phenomenon that scientists attribute to climate change.
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“Oak Fireis one of the most dramatic manifestations of the heat wave affecting the United States this weekend, in the North-West, the center and the North-East. A map from the National Weather Service (NWS) shows a very large part of the country, including California, all of the south, then a large part of the east coast, affected by temperatures between 37 and 43 degrees. “It will be extremely oppressive, especially in major metropolitan areas from Washington to New York and Boston“, wrote on Twitter the NWS.
“Scientists have been predicting these extraordinary and catastrophic events for decades now“, reaffirmed Sunday on the chain ABC News the former American vice-president Al Gore, who had received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his commitment to the climate. “Today they say that if we don’t stop using our atmosphere as a garbage can, and if we don’t stop these heat-trapping (greenhouse gas) emissions, things are going to get worse. More people will be killed and the survival of our civilization is at stake“, he added.
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Stifling heat was particularly felt in the capital Washington, where the temperature flirted with the symbolic bar of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). New York was not spared, with temperatures close to 35 degrees. The temperature could also reach 43 degrees in parts of Utah (West), Arizona (South) and the Northeast, according to NWS.
SEE ALSO – United States: the impressive images of the fireOak Fire“, in California
A “emergency state» decreed
The heat wave has already led to an increase in the number of calls to the emergency services for discomfort related to high temperatures. “Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States. It far exceeds any other nature-related cause of deathTulsa, Oklahoma, Area Emergency Management Agency Director Joseph Kralicek told CNN.
In Boston, where Mayor Michelle Wu decreed a “heat-related emergency“Providing the opening of municipal places to cool off and swimming pools open longer, it could be 37 degrees on Sunday.
This week, US President Joe Biden once again emphasized the “clear and immediate danger“What does climate change represent?”an existential threat to our nation and the world“. But its room for maneuver is limited in Congress and by the Supreme Court.
An unmistakable sign of climate change
The planet has already recorded several heat waves this year, such as in July in Western Europe or in India in March-April. Their multiplication is an unmistakable sign of climate change, according to scientists.
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In June 2021, an extremely rare “heat dome” wreaked havoc across the west coast of the United States and Canada, killing more than 500 people and causing major fires, with temperatures approaching 50 degrees.