THE ANGELS – Thousands of hectares devastated, over 6,000 people displaced from their homes, more than 2,000 homes and businesses without electricity, ten properties destroyed and thousands more threatened by flames. The effects of the fires in California, probably also due to the high temperatures, are terrifying. The governor Gavin Newson declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County. A fire broke out here on Friday and quickly spread not far from Yosemite National Park, where the giant sequoias had already been plagued by flames in recent days. More than 500 firefighters are working non-stop with aircraft assistance.
In recent years, California and other parts of the western United States have been ravaged by huge, rapidly evolving wildfires, caused by years of drought and climate change. According to Daniel Swain,
of the University of California, the fire “has spread in all directions due to burning and drought. The series of relatively small and nondestructive fires that have hit California so far this season seem to be over.”
Citizens posted images of a huge and impressive vortex of thick smoke rising from the forest, like a tornado, on social networks.
The weather forecast does not bode well for a quick solution to the problem. “The extreme heat will continue in the central United States and extend to the Northeast this weekend, with record temperatures expected across the region on Sunday,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Warm “which will then fuel bad weather in the northern Midwest, with dangerous winds, large hail and some tornadoes.” According to the NWS, the temperature could even reach 43 degrees in some areas of Utah (west), Arizona (south) and the northeast.