- More than 100,000 people in Southern California were ordered to evacuate as another round of wildfires has swept into the area, compounding the most devastating fire season in the state’s history. The Silverado Fire and Blue Ridge Fire are both burning in Orange County. [CNN / Madeline Holcombe]
- The Silverado Fire broke out Monday, jumping a highway and ballooning to 4,000 acres. Firefighters said 20,000 homes in Irvine, 40 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, have been evacuated. [The Guardian / Vivian Ho]
- Southern California Edison said its equipment may be responsible for the blaze, which so far has not been contained. SCE shut off power to roughly 38,000 homes and businesses in five counties as a safety precaution, then reduced that number Monday night as winds eased. [AP / Christopher Weber and Olga L. Rodriguez]
- This would not be the first time SCE’s equipment contributed to a major fire this year. SCE filed a report in September saying its equipment might have caused the Bobcat Fire, which burned more than 115,000 acres near Pasadena. [NYT / Ana Facio-Krajcer, Will Wright, and Johnny Diaz]
- The Santa Ana winds, which blow hot, dry air from the desert toward the Pacific Ocean, have hastened the fires’ spread. Santa Ana winds are frequent in October and November, and combined with a lack of rain, they can cause ideal conditions for wildfires. [Washington Post / Andrew Freedman and Diana Leonard]
- The Blue Ridge Fire is burning farther east, and as of Tuesday morning it had burned more than 12 square miles with no containment. No structures have been reported lost in either of the two blazes, but 10 homes have been damaged by the Blue Ridge Fire. [USA Today / Chris Woodyard]
- “We’re experiencing very high winds and very low humidity,” Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said in a press conference. “Our firefighters are some of the bravest — the bravest in the world. This is a very hazardous job.” [Newsweek / Jade Bremner]
- Part of the reason that fires on the US West Coast have worsened so much in recent years is because of the decline in controlled burns — a practice with a long history among Native Americans that significantly reduces the risk of large, uncontrolled fires. [Vox / Umair Irfan]
- Five of California’s six largest fires since 1932 have taken place this year. More than 4.25 million acres have been burned and more than 9,000 buildings destroyed in 8,500 fires across the state in 2020, costing California more than $1.8 billion, according to data from Cal Fire. [Los Angeles Times / Priya Krishnakumar and Swetha Kanan]
|
|
