Fueled by warm weather and gusty winds, more than 70 large fires were blazing across the United States on Wednesday. Most of them are in the West, where tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes to escape encroaching flames.
In recent days, a severe heat wave has helped ignite new fires. Windy conditions expected on Wednesday could cause them to swell quickly or to create new difficult-to-control blazes, officials say. At least one of the three major fires in Southern California, the Line fire, was an act of arson, and the authorities arrested a man on Tuesday.
So far this year, fires have torn through more than 6.9 million acres across the country. That’s the most acres that have burned by early September since 2018, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Here’s the latest on some of the major blazes:
No state is battling more large fires than Oregon, where there are 24 burning. In close second is Idaho, with 22. Firefighters say they hope that cooler and wetter weather this week will help curb the growth of the fires.
Though windy conditions could still prove a challenge, cooler temperatures in Southern California arriving on Wednesday are expected to aid efforts to fight three fires that have erupted in recent days in the mountains near Los Angeles, where temperatures had been pushing 110 degrees during a brutal heat wave.
California is primed for fire after two consecutive winters of heavy rain, which fed the growth of brush and other plants throughout the state. After a hot summer, that vegetation has become parched, experts said, and ready to burn.
California
One of the three major blazes in the Los Angeles region known as the Line fire has grown to about 34,000 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains east of the city, and is threatening 65,000 structures. Firefighters expect the blaze, which was 14 percent contained as of Tuesday night, to spread east toward Big Bear, known for vacation homes and ski resorts.
Closer to Los Angeles, a blaze in the San Gabriel Mountains known as the Bridge fire has ballooned to more than 46,000 acres.