Sparked by lightning and fuelled by record heat and strong winds, the California wildfires show no sign of dying down. And they could make the pandemic worse.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency due to the hundreds of wildfires that have been devastating the state for several days and have forced thousands of residents to abandon their homes. "We are deploying every available resource to keep communities safe as California fights fires across the state in these extreme conditions," Newsom said. "California and its federal and local partners are working together to rise to the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of continuing and dangerous weather conditions."
An extreme situation that compounds the coronavirus pandemic and the recent blackout that affected the region. The fires are believed to have been sparked by an exceptionally high number of lightning strikes in the area — nearly 11,000 in the past 72 hours — further fuelled by record temperatures, such as those recorded on 16 August in Death Valley, and very strong winds that have helped the flames spread.
At present, 367 fires are known to be burning, located mostly in northern California. They have broken out mainly across the five counties of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus, north of San Francisco, and have devastated an area of approximately 100,000 square kilometres.
Due to smoke and ash, last Wednesday the San Francisco Bay recorded the world's worst air quality, raising concern at the American Lung Association, which works to protect the lung health of Americans: according to the organisation, poor air quality could exacerbate residents' respiratory problems and increase the risk of contracting Covid-19.
California's "wine country" is also at risk: the counties of Napa, Sonoma and Solano are ablaze. According to Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency, more than 46,000 acres have burned. Among the worst-hit towns is Vacaville, between San Francisco and Sacramento, where not only have around 50 homes been destroyed, but a wall of fire reportedly blocked Interstate 80, causing lengthy traffic queues.
In southern California, the Lake Fire north-east of Los Angeles, which has been raging for more than a week, is devastating the Mojave National Preserve near the California–Nevada border, burning ancient trees in the Joshua Tree National Park.
It is a situation that firefighters are also struggling to manage. The personnel deployed across the state, divided into 13 teams, currently number almost nine thousand, but without the reinforcement crews that normally come from prisons: inmates who serve in the fire corps in exchange for sentence reductions are not permitted to leave due to the pandemic and are therefore unable to provide any support. California has been forced to seek help from neighbouring states: Arizona and Nevada have sent equipment, while Texas has offered to dispatch firefighting teams.