California Wildfires: A New Horror in the West

Beginning in the winter of 2020, the state of California has had a continuous struggle due to a mass drought, which has brought a number of raging wildfires. Though this cycle started last year, 6 new fires have taken over about 1,147,557 acres of the golden state as of 7am, September 10th, and two more erupted over Labor day weekend. Firefighters have worked to keep these raging, monstrous fires contained and keep the citizens of california safe. In El Dorado County, a two week long evacuation period was enforced due to the Caldor fires’ proximity to the county. The Cador fire, burning since August 14th, has covered 218,405 acres alone, and continues to swiftly grow. This large fire stretches through a major piece of the Eldorado National Forest and ends near the south edge of Lake Tahoe. 

Being a tourist destination and a well known state park, Lake Tahoe is struggling greatly as the fire burns through houses and vegetation. Air quality in the area is the worst in the nation, so much that the smoke has actually changed the air quality index. Before this occurrence, the average air index ranged from a 0-500 scale. The Caldor fire alone has raised the air quality in the Lake Tahoe area to quality ranging between 400 and 559. Additionally, the smoke cover is so thick that surrounding highways and roads are completely closed off to prevent more accidents and further spread of the fire. Although the overall containment of the collective fires currently stands at 62.33%, the fire risk is predicted to be high over the next few days due to the weather forecast in the northern area. Very little rainfall is projected along with strong winds and lightning storms- perfect conditions for wildfires to thrive. These strong winds and drought conditions have pushed the fire to entirely new areas, making it difficult to keep up with. Though precautions are being taken, such as fire-retardant on houses and the clearing of dead vegetation, wildfires are vastly unpredictable in their spread, and little can be inferred as to when this hardship will end. 

In addition to the Caldor fire, California is also facing the largest single wildfire recorded in history. The Dixie fire currently covers about 928,741 acres alone, and has been burning since July 14th. The fire is 59% contained as of September 10th, and the cause is unknown, though the spread is undoubtedly due to California's current drought conditions which continue to worsen. The size of the fire is overwhelming and has grown to be half the size of the August Complex, a group of multiple lightning fires in 2020. But California is not the only state struggling due to recent drought conditions. At the moment, there are 100 reported wildfires throughout 15 western states. Because of the drought, much of the vegetation in these areas has died and become fuel for these monstrous natural disasters.Thinking about these struggles, one big question comes to mind: when and how will we see the end of these horrifying events? 

By Sydney Feld