I have lived in California for over six years. My nephew currently lives in California, just 30 miles from Los Angeles. I am concerned about the fire situation more so than I have ever been. Colorado now ha its second largest wildfire burning along with three others, bit nothing compared to California, By August 19, there have been 367 major fires that are burning statewide in California. In addition, there are power outages due to the heat. Covid-19 is another problem as one of the hot spots of the Nation. Evacuees are transferred to hotels instead of high schools because of the pandemic situation.
Last year, inmates provided 160 firefighters. This year, because of quarantines in prisons, they can only provide 90 fighters. The Governor of California has called in the National Guard to help along with help from border states like Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. He has requested 375 additional fire engines.
The total personnel now fighting the fires is 7,000 people. Last year crews fought 4,000 fires. This year, so far, there were 6,754 fires, a 68 percent increase and we are only halfway through the season. Twenty-eight thousand people have been evacuated from Silicon Valley alone which has burned 102,000 acres. One hundred and twenty-four acres of wine country, Napa Valley, have burned. All the non-essential civilians at Travis Air Force Base have been evacuated, and so far there have been 349,000 acres burned. That is five hundred and forty-six square miles! That land acreage is larger than the entire city of Los Angeles.
These fires were triggered by thousands of lightening strikes. (Ten thousand eight-hundred and forty-nine lightning strikes in a 72-hour period).
In addition to the fires, the high-quality air index due to smoke in the San Francisco area has an index of 200. New Delhi, India, which is considered one of the worst places in the world for poor quality air, is normally at 150, and so 200 or above is in the danger zone. Above 300, it’s considered a hazardous zone. A spokesman for The American Lung Association, says “intense smoke and heat can trigger coughing and wheezing. Worsening lung function can lead to bronchitis or even deaths.” Cloth masks do not protect against the particulates of smoke.
This is absolutely one of the worst, most dangerous wildfire seasons in California history.
(The statistics in this blog are from the August 19, 2020 Los Angeles Times).