Instead of obsessing about EV cars and wind power, how about we spend some money stopping wildfires before they grow out. of control. Notice how every summer we need to deal with this crap. I'm pissed.
Wildfires Affect Air Quality in Parts of the U.S.
Thousands of firefighters struggle to contain blazes across Pacific Northwest and Canada
By Ginger Adams Otis, WSJ
July 28, 2024 12:41 pm ET
Smoke from several wildfires ripping through the U.S. and Canada has created air-quality issues in parts of the West, with officials warning of reduced visibility in some places.
The air quality was especially bad in proximity to some of the biggest fires in northern California and Oregon, however the impacts from smoke and particulate matter might be felt across the northern U.S. Plains and Midwest in coming days, according to the National Weather Service.
A series of blazes last summer in Canada created a dense and dangerous haze that altered air travel and disrupted daily life for millions of people. The current situation is similar, but unlikely to reach the same intensity, weather-service meteorologist Andrew Orrison said Sunday.
The worst effects are currently over southern Oregon, where the air is “very unhealthy,” he said. There is also a substantial amount of smoke over places such as Montana and Idaho, he said.
TAP FOR SOUND
Thousands of firefighters are struggling to contain blazes ripping through large parts of the U.S. and Canada, including the Park Fire in northern California that has torn through 350,000 acres. Photo: Fred Greaves/Reuters
“It’s not good to be outside in southern Oregon in that smoke. People should not be breathing that kind of air,” he said.
In places such as Las Vegas, people can feel the effects of smaller fires burning in southern California, he said. Smoke conditions might worsen in Nevada over the next few days.
“It’s the combination of all the fires, collectively,” he said. “We’ll see a continuation of smoke across the northern U.S. Plains and into the Midwest, and it may get a little bit worse in the latter part of the week.”
Thousands of firefighters have been battling more than 100 wildfires across the Pacific Northwest and Canada, including the Park Fire in northern California that has torn through 350,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Los Angeles.
Roughly two million acres have been damaged by fires to date, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Park Fire erupted Wednesday and spread rapidly. As of Sunday, it is 12% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. It is already the seventh-largest wildfire in California history, Cal Fire said. The largest to date was 2020’s August Complex Fire that burned over one million acres, the agency said.
Arson caused the Park Fire, Cal Fire said. A man suspected of pushing a burning car into a gully and sparking the blaze was arrested by California authorities last week.
Firefighters in Oregon, where the air is ‘very unhealthy,’ according to the National Weather Service. PHOTO: MATT MILLS MCKNIGHT/REUTERS
People evacuate their horse as the River Fire moves through wheat fields. PHOTO: AUGUST FRANK/AP
The White House said Sunday that President Biden had been briefed on the Park Fire. The White House said in addition to the federal assets that had already been deployed, Biden “directed his team to do everything possible to support ongoing fire suppression efforts.”
Firefighters are unlikely to get help from the weather this week, Orrison said. Temperatures in the West cooled over the weekend, but it won’t last, according to the forecast.
“Temperatures will warm up in the interior of the West but also in the central U.S. and central Plains,” he said. “It’s going to get quite hot out there—we expect some record highs to be set.”
The rise in temperatures will also bring a drop in humidity by midweek, exactly what you “don’t want to see when fighting fires,” he said.
Arizona and New Mexico and other parts of the country are expected to get rain this week, but there is no precipitation forecast for the western U.S. over the next five to seven days, according to Orrison.
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