How ’spreading like wildfire’ is getting a terrifying new meaning in the California of climate change
On a ridge overlooking the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it would have been possible to see the first flickering flames of the Oak Fire and then how it engulfed its surroundings. It took just 24 hours to mushroom to 10,000 acres and become California’s biggest wildfire this year…. The “megadrought” driven by climate change that is affecting California and other western states has left plenty of dry, flammable material that can become fuel so quickly, especially when humidity is low and winds are high. And that means grim records are barely being set before they are burned through, again.
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