Oregon, Washington and California are enduring a wildfire season of historic proportions, with the firefighting effort compounded by the coronavirus pandemic and misinformation online. Gavin Newsom of California also noted the dying winds and said that a “modest amount” of precipitation could be on the way in his state. More than 40,000 Oregonians have already been evacuated, and about 500,000 are in zones that may be evacuated as the fires continue to grow. To his west, the August Complex fire — which this week became the largest in the state’s history — had now burned across 747,000 acres, Newsom said. Ten people have died in the most recent California fires, and Newsom said he feared that more bodies would be found.

Source: bd News24 September 12, 2020 03:56 UTC