Authorities have issued evacuation orders for areas hit by the Lake Fire and Ranch2 Fire in Los Angeles County, California; the Mosier Creek Fire in Wasco County, Oregon; and the Pine Gulch, Grizzly Creek and Cameron Peak fires in Colorado.
Mandatory evacuations are in place for residents in Lake Hughes and surrounding areas.
The weather does not help. Some of the hottest temperatures of the summer were expected Friday and over the weekend in 11 states from Texas to California and in the Northwest. Nearly 85 million people are Friday under some sort of warning about heat, watch as advisory, according to CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.
From minor drought to “weather whiplash” that brings wetter wet seasons and dry dry seasons, climate change is hitting California harder than almost anywhere else in America, said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.
Wildfires are one of the most apparent and destructive examples of this. Numerous studies have linked increasing emissions of carbon dioxide and climate temperatures to increasing abundance of burning in the Western U.S., particularly in California.
Colorado blaze is the nation’s ‘top fire priority’
Gov. Jared Polis called the Grizzly Creek blaze the ‘top fire priority’ in the country in a news conference Friday, with sources entering the entire country to fight the fire. The fire broke out on August 10 in Glenwood Canyon, according to InciWeb, but the cause remains unknown.
The fire grew significantly Thursday and warned there would be more growth in the coming days, said Marty Adell, the U.S. Forest Service’s incident commander for the flame. Fire crews struggled with high temperatures, wind and low relative humidity, he said. Some of the affected areas are inaccessible, making it difficult to move firefighters and equipment in place, Adell said.
While the fire has prompted some evacuation authorities, police said Friday that the main impact is traffic jams.
“Literally, this fire is right on Highway 70,” he said.
The governor said fire conditions are exacerbated by dry weather.
“All of Colorado is currently in dry conditions,” Polis said. “So, we’re at greater risk in many of our areas. I want to make sure this is a clear message for campers and others to really curb activities that can cause fires as we go about our daily lives.”
Stella Chan, Jamiel Lynch, Sarah Moon and Joe Sutton of CNN contributed to this report.
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