A huge fire continues to ravage the Mojave Desert on Monday, July 31. It caused “fire tornadoes” this weekend in this region straddling California and Nevada, where many Joshua trees grow, according to US authorities. The ‘York Fire’, which started on Friday, now spans more than 300 square miles, unchecked at all yet, despite the efforts of more than 250 firefighters, according to a bulletin from the Bureau of Land Management. (BLM), a federal agency responsible for the area.
“Windy weather has a big impact on fire behavior,” the agency pointed out. “In some places, firefighters on the north side of the fire observed tornadoes of fire. Unpredictable, these columns of swirling flames are extremely dangerous for firefighters. They can “spread embers over long distances and start new fires at the front of the main front,” recalls the BLM. The fire spread to Nevada on Sunday, with flames sometimes rising up to six meters in height, but it has not caused any evacuations for the moment.
Heat wave
This fire is a disaster for the Mojave Desert, a protected area in the United States, known for its biodiversity. In addition to the turtles, foxes and lynxes that roam this territory, this national park is also home to many Joshua trees, a species so emblematic of the American West that the rock band U2 chose a specimen to illustrate the cover of his album called Joshua Tree.
These trees with branches covered with thorns are now threatened by global warming. In June, the California Parliament passed a law to protect them, in particular by creating a fund dedicated to their preservation. In 2020, another fire, the “Dome Fire”, killed 1.3 million of these trees in California.
The extreme temperatures prevailing in the desert currently make the task of firefighters particularly difficult, the BLM pointed out. The origin of the “York Fire” remains unknown at this time. The fire started during the heat wave currently affecting the American Southwest. In Nevada, Las Vegas is currently going through one of its hottest Julys on record. In neighboring Arizona, the city of Phoenix just suffered more than thirty-one days in a row in which the mercury exceeded 43.3°C.
