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Answers to all your questions about forest fires

2019-10-31T09:25:44.652Z


Forest fires are more deadly and destructive every year. For those outside the area who might not be familiar with the phenomenon, here is everything they need to know about ...


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(CNN) - Firefighters in California are fighting over a dozen forest fires that have displaced thousands of people and left more than a million without power.

Forest fires are more deadly and destructive every year. For those outside the area who may not be familiar with the phenomenon, here is everything they need to know about forest fires.

How do forest fires begin?

There is no single answer.

Most forest fires are actually man-made: 84%, according to a NASA study. Not much is needed: a fire, a thrown cigarette or even fireworks can cause a massive fire. Those fires of the Amazon of a few months ago? Many believe they were unleashed by ranchers and loggers who wanted to clean the land for use.

Do you remember old Smokey Bear saying: "Only you can prevent forest fires"? He has a point.

But human carelessness is not the only cause of forest fires.

California's largest utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, could be partly to blame. In 2017 alone, the PG&E team caused 17 fires, often after falling tree branches hit power lines, according to state officials.

In some places, a falling branch may not be a big problem. But in California, where the land is so dry and the winds so strong, the fires caused in this way can spread at an amazing speed.

That is exactly what happened at Camp Fire last fall in northern California. It left 85 people dead and thousands of structures destroyed. It was the deadliest fire in the history of the state, and was caused by the PG&E team.

MIRA : Has PG&E put California at risk?

Why do they always seem to happen in California?

In reality, more forest fires occur in the eastern part of the US. UU., But forest fires in the west tend to be larger and more destructive, according to data collected by the Congressional Research Service.

Here are the numbers to put it in perspective. Nearly 36,200 fires burned 1.7 million acres (688,000 hectares) in the east in 2018. In the west, only 22,000 forest fires burned more than 7 million acres (2.8 million hectares).

So, although forest fires occur in the East, we hear almost nothing about them because they are not as devastating as they are in the West.

What makes California unique is a combination of factors. The air is already dry. In addition to that, there are the winds of Santa Ana, a climatic event in which high pressure builds up over the western US. UU., Which forces the air over the deserts of California. It all results in super strong winds combined with low humidity, which allows forest fires to spread rapidly.

Texas actually had the highest number of wildfires of all states in 2018: 10,541, according to the Insurance Information Institute, which extracted data from the National Inter-Agency Fire Center. California, which came in second place, had 8,054 forest fires.

But the differences in damage are surprising. Despite having fewer fires, California's flames burned more than 728,000 hectares, while Texas affected 230,600 hectares, according to the insurance institute.

In comparison, Nevada saw only 649 forest fires in 2018, only a fraction of what California and Texas experienced. But those llamas were responsible for more than 400,000 hectares burned.

READ : This is what California fires look like from space

How many forest fires occur each year?

In 2018, there were about 58,100 fires that burned 3.5 million hectares in the US. UU., According to the Congress Research Service.

The number of forest fires has decreased slightly over the past 30 years, while the number of hectares burned is increasing slightly, according to the investigation service report.

Is it the fault of climate change?

Simply put, climate change creates drier air and drier vegetation.

So, although it doesn't cause fires directly, it helps create conditions conducive to feeding them, and that contributes to more extreme fire events, said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.

MIRA : Climate change encourages the spread of forest fires, experts say

In its fourth climate change assessment, issued in August last year, California reported that state forests will be more vulnerable to forest fires due to climate change.

And the assessment states that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, extreme forest fires will occur more frequently in 2100, and the average area burned across the state will increase by 77%.

Madeleine Yesterday, Scott Glover, AJ Willingham and Ralph Ellis of CNN contributed to this report.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-10-31

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