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Fires ravage the US West Coast, six dead

2020-09-10T05:11:41.603Z


The states of Washington, Oregon and California are in the grip of unprecedented fires. The authorities expect to see the human and material tolls increase further.


An impression of "

hell

" and a sky of apocalypse.

Fueled by drought and high winds, historic-scale fires continued to ravage the West Coast of the United States on Wednesday, September 9, and killed six people, including a one-year-old child.

The child, found by rescue teams with his parents severely burned, perished in Washington state, the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.

All three were trying to escape the flames.

Read also: Apocalypse sky in San Francisco due to historic fires

The fires stretch from Washington State, on the border with Canada, to San Diego, in southern California.

Between the two, Oregon has seen 120,000 hectares go up in smoke and at least five localities have been largely destroyed by fires "

unprecedented in the history

of the state", said its governor, Kate Brown.

The authorities expect "

many losses, in terms of buildings and human lives

" while massive evacuations are underway, she added at a press conference.

Two people were found dead in the state on Wednesday, the sheriff of Marion County in northwestern Oregon later announced.

According to local media, it is a 12-year-old boy and his grandmother.

A dark orange sky of apocalypse

In California, more than twenty fires are raging and this year the fire has consumed more than 10,000 km2 in the state, a record since these data were collected in 1987. Three people were found dead in the north state, Butte County officials said on Wednesday.

In San Francisco, residents woke up to a dark orange sky worthy of an apocalypse scene because of smoke from the fires further north.

At midday, the cars were still driving headlights on as if the sun had still not risen.

Nearly a thousand firefighters were fighting the fire dubbed Creek Fire in the Fresno area (central), which spread over more than 65,000 hectares.

Evacuation orders have also been issued for the threatened population near San Diego, where nearly 7,000 acres burned in the Valley Fire, according to local authorities.

The ravages of climate change

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee said on Tuesday that nine "

major

"

fires

there burned more than 133,000 acres in 24 hours, more than double the area burned for all of 2019. "

We live in a new world, this is no longer the Washington of before,

”he said, denouncing climate change, which he believes is the cause of these fires of a new magnitude.

"

The conditions are so dry, so hot, so windy, because the climate has changed,

" said the governor, adding that more than 100,000 people were without electricity.

California Democratic Governor Gary Newsom also denounced the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

I am literally losing my patience with climate skeptics

,” he said.

This point of view is in total contradiction with the reality on the ground

”.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-09-10

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