Rages in the western US as millions are under heat warnings July 22, 2024

People watch as a wildfire burns near homes in Riverside, California, on July 21, 2024 (David SWANSON)

by AFP - Agence France Presse

Rages in the western US as millions are under heat warnings

Several states in the US West, including California and Utah, were battling wildfires on Monday, while millions of Americans in the region were again under heat wave warnings.

Evacuation orders were issued east of Los Angeles, in the Riverside district, after fires destroyed a handful of buildings and burned more than 800 acres, according to local authorities.

Across California, firefighters were dealing with 21 fires of varying sizes on Monday, according to government agency Cal Fire.

Their efforts were hampered by the oven temperatures that prevailed in the western USA over the weekend. More than 30 million people in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington were affected by heat warnings.

California Governor Gavin Newsom had already warned of a “very active” wildfire season at the beginning of July, following a breather in the previous two years thanks to rainy winters.

Repeated heatwaves since the beginning of June have dried out much of the vegetation in the state, favoring the spread of fires.

According to Newsom, wildfires have devastated 207,415 acres in California since January - far more than the 10,080 acres burned during the same period last year and more than the five-year average of 38,593 acres burned.

Last week, California sent its firefighters to neighboring Oregon, where Governor Tina Kotek spoke of a “very aggressive start” to the wildfire season. Around 20 fires are currently being fought in the northwest of the state.

One of them, the Cow Valley Fire, reached “megafire” status last week after devastating more than 100,000 acres in a rural, largely uninhabited area.

According to authorities, the fire is now 80 percent under control.

Utah was also hit by a fire on Saturday, which broke out near the state capital Salt Lake City. Around 40 homes in the hills north of the city had to be evacuated, and some people who saw the flames up close panicked.

"I ran out of the house and thought: 'This is my backyard,'” Utah resident Roger Hobbs told local television station KSL TV, adding, ‘It's to die for up here.’

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as our planet warms, according to scientists, largely due to human dependence on fossil fuels.

According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, last June was the hottest June on record, marking the peak of six months of wild and destructive weather events, including floods and heatwaves.

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