Dozens of wildfires are burning in the west of the country, amid the torrid temperatures that have been recorded.
The fire brigades reported on Monday of some progress to contain the flames and meteorologists predict that extreme temperatures will decrease in the coming days.
The fires have prompted evacuations
in many rural communities, where flames have engulfed some houses and other structures, although the extent of the damage is still unknown.
The fires occurred when a second wave of high temperatures swept through the west.
Conditions were also made worse by the drought caused by climate change, scientists warn.
A firefighter battles the Beckwourth fire complex in Doyle, California, on July 10, 2021.
"The fires are simply explosive and the wind does not help
," one of the firefighters fighting the fires that ravage six states, including California and Oregon, told Noticias Telemundo, where the greatest devastation has been reported.
The
Beckwourth
fire complex
, which was formed by thunderstorms, covers approximately
140 square miles
(362 square kilometers) on the northern California-Nevada border.
Plumas National Forest officials reported that firefighters managed to successfully contain nearly a quarter of the fire, though they still expect the flames to continue to burn dangerously.
[Two firefighters die in Arizona as wildfires in the west intensify during heat wave]
There are evacuation orders for more than 3,000 residents
in remote areas of Lassen and Plumas Counties in California and Washoe County in Nevada.
Some structures were destroyed over the weekend in Doyle, California, a city of about 600 people.
"A damage assessment team has arrived to validate and evaluate reports of damaged or destroyed structures," it was reported in a statement from the forest service.
Heatwave off the nation's West Coast fuels wildfires in California and Oregon
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In Oregon, the
Bootleg Fire
covers 240 square miles
(621 square kilometers) in the Fremont-Winema National Forest near the town of Sprague River in Klamath County.
After doubling in size at least twice over the weekend, Sunday continued to grow, albeit gradually, according to Rich Saalsaa, a spokesman for the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
"This has allowed firefighters to dig more trenches and thus go on the offensive
," Saalsaa said.
Seven houses and 43 buildings have been destroyed in the area south of the fire.
Almost 2,000 homes have received evacuation orders.
Much of the west has been engulfed in a heat wave this weekend that raised the temperature to triple digits.
For this reason,
the independent operator of the California electricity grid issued a 'flex alert'
that went into effect this Monday at 4:00 pm, Western time, to "conserve as much electricity as possible."
[Planet Earth: The Amazon suffers a record number of fires in June]
The measure asks Californians to avoid consuming as much electricity as possible between 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm, in order to avoid possible blackouts.
Not only has energy consumption increased due to the heat wave, but the fires in Oregon threaten the electrical grids that supply California.
"If needed, ok, you turn it on for an hour and turn it off,"
Rosendo Cornejo told Noticias Telemundo, a Southern California resident who has been impacted by measures to conserve energy during peak hours.
"Because if you put the air on for three or four hours and then you're not going to be there, then what for?"
This is how the residents of a score of houses that were devoured by a fire in California managed to save themselves
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However, for Rosalva Bautista, another Californian resident, turning off the air conditioning at certain times is not a luxury she can do without:
"It's too hot, that's why I have to put the air in my trailer," she
said.
The July heat wave comes just weeks after scorching temperatures in the Northwest broke heat records in June and led to dozens of deaths.
It also occurs amid a worsening drought across the region.
Global warming has contributed to the mega drought and is making trees and plants more prone to burning.
Scientists indicate that decades of human-driven climate change have exacerbated conditions in the west.
With information from The Associated Press.
