West Coast Wildfires

Between California, Washington, and Oregon, more than 5 million acres have burned down. At least 36 people have died and thousands of families have lost their homes. But how did this even happen? It seems as if the skies turned orange overnight and we all got to experience golden hour all day. While the selfies I took were ✨immaculate✨, my lungs did not appreciate the brief moments when I had to step outside.

How did these three states almost simultaneously catch on fire, and why haven't they been contained yet? There are a variety of things that have contributed to this massive surge of fires along the coast. One major contributor is climate change. With record high temperatures, and extremely dry and windy weather, it's no surprise so many fires broke out. All of the farmland in California, which consists of numerous crops and vegetation, dries out during the summer due to the crazy high temperatures, and this dried land then served as fuel for the foreseen fires. It doesn’t help that California is in a 9-year long drought, which the president doesn’t even believe exists. California currently has 27 wildfires burning ranging in containment percentages.

One fire in California, the Bobcat Fire, has burned over 105,000 acres since September 6th, when it first started. This is one of the largest fires in Los Angeles County’s history. The cause of this fire is still unknown. There are more than 1,700 firefighters fighting this fire alone, who have managed to get the fire to 15% containment.

Bobcat Fire

The El Dorado fire in California was started from an explosive used for a gender-reveal party on September 5th. This fire caused over 30,000 evacuations and burned over 22,000 acres. Another cause of some of the fires is lightning, an example being the Lionshead Fire in Oregon. This fire has so far burned over 200,000 acres and is only 10% contained. Unfortunately, some of the fires’ origin is unknown, which is the case for the Pearl Hill Fire in Washington. The Pearl Hill Fire started on September 7th. This fire has burned over 223,000 acres, but luckily it is now 94% contained.

Lionshead Fire

You may be wondering, how do the fires make the sky orange? Simply put, the smoke from the fires is able to disperse and block the blue light coming from the sky before it reaches your eye, which then leads to skies looking red and orange. With these smoke particles in the air, our air quality decreases tremendously. I believe these fires were Mother Nature's way of telling people to wear a mask, because the air quality is so terrible that people are being forced to wear masks to avoid breathing in the smoke. There is so much smoke in the air that it has now traveled all the way over to Europe. If that isn’t concerning, I'm not sure what is. People with pre-existing issues breathing, are encouraged to stay indoors and avoid extensive actions as much as possible. When you need to leave your home, make sure to wear a mask.