California wildfires burn area larger than New York City
The Thomas fire in California's Ventura and Santa Barbara counties has expanded significantly over the past week, scorching 230,000 acres, an area larger than New York City. It has become the fifth fifth-largest wildfire recorded in California's history. The wildfire is being fanned by strong winds and has grown by over 50,000 acres in a day. Thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate.
Fires have been raging for the past seven days
For the past seven days, California authorities have been scrambling to contain multiple wildfires. At least six large fires and multiple smaller blazes erupted in Southern California on December 4. Of these, the largest is the Thomas fire. On Sunday, forecasters said the fires are expected to increase during the day before dying down overnight.
200,000 people evacuated, hundreds of homes destroyed
On Sunday, around 15% of the fire was brought to control by firefighters. However, officials downgraded this to 10% as the fires continued spreading. "This is a menacing fire, certainly, but we have a lot of people working very diligently to bring it under control," said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown. Around 200,000 people have been evacuated and hundreds of homes destroyed.
Wildfires caused by climate change
California Governor Jerry Brown, who had earlier declared an emergency, said the situation is "the new normal." He predicted that the wildfires caused by climate change "could happen every year or every few years." A number of firefighters have been injured battling the fires, which have killed one person. California's multi-million dollar agricultural industry may be severely hit by the fires.
