(VitalNews.org) – The United States wildfire season has been intense and has burned more than four million acres which is up almost three hundred percent from last year, as reported by the National Interagency Fire Center.
High temperatures, prolonged heat waves, dry vegetation, and drought have been the major components of igniting the most intense wildfire season America has had. Firefighters have been fighting over ninety fires across thirteen different states. Twenty-eight of these fires have prompted evacuations in the areas being affected.
Rainfall for the country has been below normal for the month of July, and it has sparked some of the largest wildfires to date. Over forty wildfires are in between two states: California and Oregon.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, “Warming temperatures, drier conditions, and shifts in precipitation are contributing to an increase in the frequency of large wildfires and acres of land burned in the U.S. each year.”
The Park Fire in California was intentionally set at the end of July and has now spread to become the largest forest fire in the nation. The National Interagency Fire Center has said that the amount of acres burned is over one hundred percent of an increase from the ten year average.
They also added that the increase of potential wildfire activity is said to typically rise through September as well for many states in the West. Research has shown that the United States is both hotter and drier than it’s been over the last few decades which could be contributing to the fires.
The Western United States is also responsible for producing about half the smoke that the rest of the United States encounters each year.
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