California wildfires firefighters make progress as evacuation orders are

A thick layer of smoke-laced fog that blanketed swaths of the San Francisco Bay area on Friday was a sign of respite for firefighters, who, aided by cool and humid weather, are making progress in taming the massive blazes that are raging across the region. A heatwave and rare lightning storm had unleashed a barrage of flames across California earlier this month, leading to a series of wildfires that have displaced tens of thousands and killed at least seven. But firefighters have made progress in their battle against the disasters in recent days. Evacuation orders were lifted for at least 50,000 people in the Bay Area and wine country, officials with the state fire agency, Cal Fire, said on Thursday evening. In heavily damaged areas, crews were working to restore electricity and water to enable more people to return to their homes.“The risk to life and structures will go down rapidly as firefighters are able to contain the fires,” said Chris Field, who directs the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. But crews will likely be working to suppress the flames for weeks to come, he noted. “They’ll have to keep gradually tamping down the fires to nothing, even as the clean up continues.”The fires have come weeks before what is traditionally peak fire season in the state – and Californians can still expect to see more wildfires in the autumn, when gusty offshore winds tend to fan huge flames, Field said.


All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/28/california-wildfires-progress-evacuation-lnu-scu


#fire #wheelingnewsregister #dailynationkenya #news #nytimes #cnn #newsnow