The American West suffocates in heat and fires
Plumes of smoke from arson near Bly, Ore. On July 12, 2021. AP - Nathan Howard
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The American West is suffocating with a third intense heat wave.
From California to Montana, more than 30 million inhabitants are placed on heat wave alert.
And as if that weren't enough, the combination of extreme heat and drought causes gigantic forest fires that are totally out of control.
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In recent days, 54 degrees have been recorded in the Valley of Death, reports our correspondent in San Francisco,
Eric de Salve
. This is almost the highest temperature ever recorded anywhere in the American West. The thermometer panics for the third time already this summer: 48 degrees in Las Vegas, a record, 42 degrees in Salt Lake City, also a record. North of San Francisco, in Redding, it was 47 degrees.
California, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho ... None of these states in the western United States is spared from the fires which are currently ravaging some 350,000 hectares of vegetation, according to the latest authorities' report.
While 2020 was the worst year in modern California fire history, 2021 may already be breaking that record.
The fires have now consumed twice as much vegetation as around this time last year, according to state fire management officials.
Short showers and air conditioning off
With 85% of California's territory declared to be in a state of extreme drought, Governor Gavin Newsome is asking people to halve their water and electricity consumption. Residents across California were asked Monday to unplug their unnecessary appliances, turn off their air conditioning and oven from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time, in order to voluntarily ration their electricity consumption. California, the fifth largest economy in the world but with aging electricity infrastructure, wants to avoid plunging millions of people back into the dark, as was the case in previous years.
Last week, the governor had already urged the population to reduce their water consumption by 15%, for example by reducing the irrigation of lawns and taking shorter showers.
It is so hot in places that the playgrounds had to be closed.
As the temperature of the surfaces in the sun exceeded 70 degrees, children were at risk of burns.
This Dantesque cocktail is already fueling several huge fires like in Oregon where 200 people have died from the heat since the beginning of July.
Near Lake Tahoe, a huge forest fire has doubled in size since Sunday on the border between California and Nevada.
An unprecedented situation which, according to the collective of scientists World Weather Attribution, would be impossible without climate change.
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To read: Heat wave: more than a hundred fires ravage the American West
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