Eerie photos show Northern California wildfires continuing to spread out of control
Sarah Al-Arshani
- More than 2,300 square miles of land have been burned by wildfires in California so far, the AP reported.
- The emergence of new fires makes it harder for firefighters to contain them.
- The fires could last until December because of wind and gusts.
The Caldor Fire in Northern California couldn't be contained as it grew on Sunday.
The fire, one of about a dozen large fires in the state, broke out on August 14 and has already destroyed about 154 square miles of area in the Sierra Nevada, the Associated Press reported.
As of Sunday night, it was only 5% contained, according to The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Gusts pushed the Caldor Fire across Highway 50, forcing it to shut down.
The gusts made it harder to contain and created new ignition points, the AP reported.
The Caldor fired destroyed at least 475 structures and damaged 22.
The Dixie Fire, the largest of those blazing, has burned more than 720,000 acres and is 38% contained.
Dixie has destroyed more than 1,250 structures and damaged at least another 90 as of Sunday, according to The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Over 41,000 people have had to be evacuated across the state.
Altogether, the fires have burned about 2,300 square miles, the AP reported.
Officials also closed all National Forests because of the threat of fire.
The forests, including the Lake Tahoe Basin, will be closed until at least September 6.
California has already surpassed the record number of acres burned at this time last year.
More than 4,250,000 acres burned because of wildfires in all of 2020. So far this year, close to 1,500,000 acres have already burned.
There have been 6,630 wildfires so far in 2021, compared to 9,917 in all of 2020.
Animals have been found injured by the flames.
Volunteers working with the Wildlife Disaster Network worked for hours around the Antelope fire in Siskiyou county counting injured and dead animals, The Guardian reported.
They helped nurse injured animals back to health, including a bear cub that was found emaciated this week.
California's fires could last until December.
The AP reported that winds and gusts are making it harder to contain the fires and are spreading them further.
"Here we are — it's not the end of August and the size and distribution and the destruction of summer 2021 wildfires does not bode well for the next months," Bill Deverell, a University of Southern California history professor who teaches about fire in the West told the AP. "The suggestion of patterns across the last two decades in the West is deeply unsettling and worrisome: hotter, bigger, more fires."
The emergence of new fires makes it harder for firefighters to focus on one.
The AP reported that resources were diverted from fighting the Dixie fire when the Caldor fire erupted last week.
"Every time a new one starts it's like going to Toys R Us on Christmas Eve expecting to get a gift," John Hawkins, a retired state fire chief and now wildland fire consultant told the AP. "and finding nothing on the shelf."
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