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Original title: Unprecedented wildfires engulf the American west, why is Trump “silent”? Former US Official: Has Grudge Against Those States
[环球时报记者 王如君 陈欣]The scorched earth, the strange orange-red sky, the suffocating smoke in the air, the wildfires in the western United States have been burning hotter and hotter in recent days, and there are fires in almost the states. In California, Oregon and northern Washington, which have suffered the worst fires in history, the scene is like the end of the world. Agence France-Presse said this unprecedented fire has burned nearly 5 million acres of land, almost the size of a New Jersey state. As of the 12th, at least 28 people had died from forest fires. In the last three weeks or so, US President Trump has talked a lot about issues and posted many tweets, but he has been “silent” about the fire that has displaced tens of thousands of people. This generated anger and criticism, and Trump will visit California on the 14th to “put out the fire” himself. Portland, Oregon, where the fire is severe, is one of the first areas to hit by the new corona pneumonia epidemic, and protests of “the fate of the black man is fate too” have been here for more than 100 days. . Local resident Danielle Oliver desperately told the Associated Press reporter: “The epidemic, the protest, and now it’s a wildfire. What will happen next?”
“It’s like a war has just broken out”
“This is something we have never seen in our life.” It was California Governor Newsom who said this. Wildfires are not uncommon here, they occur almost every year, but this past weekend you stood amid charred trees and yellowish smoke in the North Mountain Fire area and warned that California is in a climate crisis of survival. The New York Times reported on the 13th that California currently has more than 20 large-scale wildfires, and three of the five largest wildfires in history are burning. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed in the wildfire and more than 3.1 million acres of land were swallowed up by the fire, which is about 26 times the area of the state fire at this time last year.
Wildfires are equally intense in Oregon and northern Washington. According to data from the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, there are currently more than 30 wildfires across the state, covering more than 300,000 acres. More than 40,000 people were evacuated and some 500,000 people were within the evacuation alert range. The Washington Post said on the 13th that this unprecedented wildfire left large areas of the state in painful trails and dozens of people were missing from the wildfire. Oregon officials say they are bracing for a possible “mass death event.” In Washington state, 16 continuous wildfires have burned 626,000 acres of land. “We are experiencing a catastrophic event,” Governor Jay Insley lamented.
The forest fire caused great losses to people and left them homeless. Reuters reported that when Manson, a Phoenix, Oregon resident who had been evacuated in advance, returned to the community, he was surprised to see the melted van. Like his neighbors, the fire engulfed all his belongings, “it was as if a war had just broken out.”
Areas outside of the three states listed above are not immune, and more people are living with the highest levels of air pollution in history. The greater San Francisco Bay area was swept away by smoke and dust from wildfires. The sky was a strange orange-red color during the day and night, and ashes falling from the sky fell on vehicles, patios, and roofs. Someone bitterly joked on the Internet “how to move to Mars”. Los Angeles, where the Global Times reporter lives, has been foggy for several days and visibility is extremely low. At worst, the sun hangs in the sky like a small round copper plate. The reporter can smell a strong smell of fireworks on the balcony.
According to Agence France-Presse, data from IQAir, a Swiss air cleaning technology company, showed that the five most polluted cities in the world on the 12th were on the west coast of the United States, from California to Vancouver in Canada. The air was thick with smoke and ash from wildfires. . “It’s like I’ve smoked 100 cigarettes.” A man from Portland described how suffocating the air was.
Regarding the cause of this rare wildfire, the Washington Post cited analysis by Fleischman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Institute, as saying that conditions in these western regions are extraordinary, including long-term climate change, conditions. pre-fire weather conditions and western regions. Changes in the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the region have caused this terrible situation. There are also reports that the possibility of arson is not ruled out. Currently, an Oregon man, two Washington state men, and a California woman have been arrested on suspicion of arson.
The National Weather Service issued a “red warning” on the 13th, indicating that southern Oregon and some California counties may experience windy and dry weather that day, causing new and existing fires to spread significantly.
Trump went to California on Monday to “put out the fire”
The White House said on the 12th that Trump will visit McClellan Park in Sacramento County, California, on the 14th to hear reports from local and federal fire and emergency officials. The park has always been a base for the state’s firefighters. US Political News commented that the announcement came at a time when Trump had not mentioned the wildfires in the western United States in the past three weeks, prompting criticism from abroad. It wasn’t until the night of the 11th that he spoke publicly about the disaster for the first time, thanking firefighters and firefighters on Twitter.
According to the New York Times, Trump’s Twitter on the Western Wildfire did not mention residents who have been living under the smoky sky, many of whom were forced to evacuate their homes in the context of the epidemic. Trump’s silence is all the more surprising because he has spoken out on so many other issues in the past week. CNN commented that the silence adds to Trump’s story of lack of compassion in the face of natural disasters and the tendency to attack Democrats in handling crises. At a rally in mid-August when the fire burned in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, his family reaction was to accuse the state forest management department of failing to follow his advice to clear the forest floor.
Former Democratic US Labor Secretary Richie wrote in The Guardian on the 13th that Trump said a month ago that he wanted to protect Oregon and California residents from “thugs and thieves.” It also enforced the application of federal law. The staff were dispatched to the streets of Portland. Today Portland is in danger of burning and Los Angeles is sounding a health alarm. Trump doesn’t care if wildfires destroy the West, one reason is that these states voted against him in 2016, and he still holds a grudge against him. The New York Times said Trump has a long-term dispute with California. On the 13th, Los Angeles Mayor Jasiti criticized the Trump administration for “burying its head in the sand” on environmental issues.
In Rich’s view, another reason Trump doesn’t care about wildfires is that the fires are related to man-made climate change. He said that since the unilateral decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Trump has always been the most anti-environmental president in US history. Lori Lords, executive director of the advocacy group Climate Forces 2020, said: “I know nothing should surprise me anymore, but the attitude of Trump and his administration towards wildfires is infuriating.”
Democrats play the climate change card
Following protests that swept across the United States, wildfires became the latest topic in the US elections. On the 12th, Democratic presidential candidate Biden seized the opportunity and quickly attacked Trump. He said in a statement: “Climate change poses an imminent existential threat to our way of life. Trump tried to deny this fact, but the fact is undeniable.” Biden asked that measures be taken to avoid “Today the American West The tragedy lived by families.”
On the same day, Pelosi, a US Democrat and Speaker of the House of Representatives, co-chaired a video conference on climate change with leaders of the G7 Parliament. Fox News reported that Pelosi linked the wildfires in the western United States to climate change, and said that if Biden wins the November election, he plans to make climate legislation an early agenda. “This is definitely a priority.” The Capitol Hill website commented that Democrats are increasingly being labeled champions of solutions to climate change.
In The Guardian’s view, Trump’s refusal to mention the wildfires and some American Democratic leaders criticizing Washington’s slow actions are tepid political responses, showing that American politicians are far from ready to take concrete action. To face the reality of climate change, let alone enact laws to stop burning fossil fuels. The newspaper said Trump will ruin the international climate movement for another four years, but not even a Democratic government can guarantee a substantial solution to this crisis.
“The future has arrived,” wrote Peter Glake, an expert with the US National Academy of Sciences, in The Guardian. The orange sky and the burning smell of forests, lives, homes and dreams are in political chaos, economic collapse and the worst of modern times. In the context of the epidemic, it looks like an apocalypse. An explosive fire is a wake-up call that there is no time to lose.
