While very high heat affects tens of millions of Americans across the country, the violent fire that has struck a Californian forest since Friday continued to spread on Sunday July 24, which led to the evacuation of thousands of people.
The fire, dubbed the “Oak Fire,” sprawls 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 bulletin from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection issued Sunday. Yosemite Park, one of the most famous in the world, has already experienced a fire in mid-July, the flames of which threatened its giant sequoias.
Favored by a “extreme drought”, winds and rising temperatures, the blaze, fought by some 2,000 firefighters, has burned at least 5,500 hectares of forest, destroyed ten properties, damaged five others and threatens more than 2,500, according to a spokeswoman of the forest department. 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.
“It will be extremely oppressive”
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.
The “Oak Fire” is one of the most dramatic manifestations of the heat wave affecting the United States this weekend, in the North-West, Center and North-East. A map from the National Weather Service (National Weather Service, NWS) shows a very large part of the country, including California, the South and much of the East Coast, affected by temperatures between 37 and 43 degrees (°C).
“It will be extremely oppressive, especially in major metropolitan areas from Washington to New York and Boston”wrote on Twitter the NWS, which adds that, in the South, temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (over 37 ° C) will continue until at least Thursday.
The dangerous and intense summer #heat continues on Sunday and here’s a look at the apparent heat/heat index foreca… https://t.co/qZfcfQcMkT
“Scientists have been predicting these extraordinary and catastrophic events for decades now”reaffirmed on Sunday on ABC News the former American vice-president Al Gore, who had received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his commitment against global warming, adding:
“Today they say that if we don’t stop using our atmosphere as a garbage can, and if we don’t stop these emissions [de gaz à effet de serre] trap the heat, things will get worse. More people will be killed and the survival of our civilization is at stake.”