Large Western US Blaze Forces Evacuations As Lightning Forecast

Los Angeles, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jul, 2021 ) :The extreme drought-hit western United States braced for more wildfire destruction Friday as efforts to contain a vast blaze scorching southern Oregon failed to progress, and dangerous dry lightning storms were forecast in California.

The Bootleg Fire near Oregon's border with California grew overnight to 240,000 acres -- larger than New York City, and by far the biggest active blaze in the US -- while remaining just seven percent contained.

"The Bootleg Fire perimeter is more than 200 miles long -- that's an enormous amount of line to build and hold," said firefighter commander Rob Allen.

"We are continuing to use every resource from dozers to air tankers to engage where it's safe to do so especially with the hot, dry, windy conditions predicted to worsen into the weekend." More evacuations orders were issued late Thursday as firefighters had to withdraw from fast-growing flames and "extreme fire conditions" to the east of the blaze, which began 10 days ago and has grown at 1,000 acres per hour since.

Meanwhile in California, climate scientist Daniel Swain warned that the risk of wildfires ignited by dry lightning strikes forecast for this weekend is "quite high." Last year's August Complex fire -- the largest in modern California history, which destroyed an area the size of Delaware -- was triggered by a massive series of thousands of lightning strikes.

Due to a "long period of unrelenting and frequently record-breaking heat," California brush is drier that it would usually be at its August or September peak, warned Swain, of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

But it is "very unlikely there will be nearly as many dry lightning strikes as occurred in Aug 2020," he tweeted.

In Canada, some 100 Mexican firefighters were scheduled to arrive in Toronto on Saturday to fight fires in northwestern Ontario, provincial authorities announced Friday.

Climate change amplifies droughts which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out-of-control and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.