The Oak Fire broke out in Yosemite National Park in California on Friday. Only a short time later the first houses are destroyed, more than 6000 people have to get to safety. It could be a week before the fire is under control.
A massive forest fire is raging near Yosemite National Park in California. According to local authorities, the Oak fire has recently spread “explosively”. Accordingly, it broke out on Friday and is now raging on an area of around 4800 hectares of land. Other parts of the US are also in a state of emergency. There is an “extreme” heat wave in the center and north-east of the country. Record temperatures are expected.
The “Oak Fire” in California is raging primarily in the district of Mariposa, almost 300 kilometers east of San Francisco. According to the information, it has already destroyed ten houses and damaged five others. Thousands more could fall victim to the flames. The fire activity is “extreme”, it says. More than 6,000 people were evacuated, according to a spokesman for the California Fire Department.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the fire is not contained. More than 500 firefighters are deployed with firefighting helicopters, among other things. The “Los Angeles Times” reports, citing officials, that it could take another week for the fire to be contained.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Mariposa County on Saturday. Eyewitnesses shared online photos of a huge whirl of thick smoke rising like a tornado over the forest. This dangerous phenomenon, a pyrocumulus or fire cloud, can further fuel the fire.
Suffering from a prolonged drought, the western United States has seen wildfires of exceptional magnitude and intensity in recent years. At the same time, the fire season is getting longer and longer. The fire brigades fear particularly severe forest fires this year.
Other parts of the country are also experiencing an extreme heatwave, the peak of which may be yet to come. The National Weather Service warns of “extremely oppressive” temperatures in the eastern United States, among other places. Temperatures of more than 38 degrees are forecast for this Sunday in the capital Washington.
In New York, the thermometer rose to around 35 degrees on Saturday. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a “heat-related emergency” due to the high temperatures, which, among other things, allows swimming pools to be open longer.
In July, people in Western Europe had also groaned under the high temperatures, in March and April extreme heat had spread in India. According to scientists, the global accumulation of heat waves is the result of the climate crisis.