UPPER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Just a month into the budget year, the state has already spent more than one-quarter of its annual fire budget, at least $125 million, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler said Wednesday. Following years of drought and a summer of record-breaking heat, immense tracts of forests, chaparral and grasslands have become tinder that allows even a small spark to explode into a devouring blaze, authorities said. “People are doing everything they can, but nature is very powerful and we’re not on the side of nature,” Brown said. The largest blaze burned in the Redding area, in Shasta County north of Sacramento. The fire, which is nearly twice the size of Sacramento, was only 35 percent contained after more than a week.

Source: Huffington Post August 02, 2018 06:33 UTC