Firefighters are seen in this photo trying to contain multiple wildfires in eastern Oregon, USA, last Saturday, amid a significant increase in temperatures during the current summer. Although the low rainfall levels this year, which usually causes trees and grasses to dry out, are the main culprit behind the wildfires, other explanations have been circulated that attribute the cause to human action that was behind the outbreak of these fires, albeit without any prior intent or intention, which was confirmed by a statement by a state fire official, who said that the fire was intentional, and that its first spark was in a forested area within one of the eastern forests of the state.
The same official gave the initial casualty toll as of yesterday, saying that one person had been confirmed injured and two homes and five residential buildings had been destroyed. According to the Oregon Fire Department, the wildfires are only 16 percent contained, and the department confirmed that crews from Umatilla, Multnomah, Marion, Linn and Clatsop counties have been mobilized to control the “fast-moving wildfires,” which have been rapidly spreading due to strong winds and high temperatures. Oregon’s forests have seen more than 1,000 major wildfires in the summer of 2021, burning at least 500,000 acres of forest across the state.
The Oregon wildfire season that year got off to an early start due to a dry spring, with low snow levels and notably dry and warm weather. The conditions are very similar to those of today’s wildfires, raising concerns that they could spread and consume more land, amid research linking increased wildfires to global warming as a major cause of climate change and its dangerous implications for life on the planet.
(Photo courtesy of The New York Times)
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