All my heroes burn their own trash and smell a little like cattle
All my heroes burn their own trash and smell a little like cattle. π€
Dixie Fire – August 8, 2021
The Dixie Fire has already destroyed nearly all of the historic Gold Rush town of Greenville and authorities warn it could take weeks to contain.
There are currently 11 major wildfires burning in the state.
Rescue workers are bracing for higher temperatures of 38C (100F) in the coming days.
The Dixie Fire started on 13 July and has since ravaged more than 489,000 acres (198,000 hectares). Just 21% of the blaze is contained, according to officials.
It has burned 480,000 acres, which is more then all of Albany County which is 523 square miles or 334,720 acres.
Wildfire smoke from Bootleg Fire stretches all the way to the East Coast – CNN
(CNN)The massive Bootleg Fire in Oregon has scorched an area larger than Los Angeles, and it's only 30% contained. The fire is so large and is burning so hot that it's creating its own weather.
It's just one of the many blazes raging in the West; the National Interagency Fire Center is watching 80 large fires across 13 states this week -- a testament to just how destructive the US wildfire season has become.
And the effects of the fires stretch all the way to the East Coast.
Why fire is our best tool against megafires – Vox
A number of unique factors in recent seasons combined with long-term trends and created the devastating blazes. But a major reason for the massive scale of the destruction is that natural fires and burning practices first developed by Indigenous people have been suppressed for generations.
Wildfires are essential to many Western ecosystems in the US, restoring nutrients to the soil, clearing decaying brush, and helping plants germinate. Without these fires, vegetation in woodlands, grasslands, and chaparral shrublands accumulates, so more fuel is available to burn, especially when a megadrought keeps drying out the fuel, year after year. A debt to the landscape starts to mount, and when it comes due, there is hell to pay.