California Wildfires Continue to Burn

California+Wildfires+Continue+to+Burn

Vivian Tirado '20, Staff Writer

Last week, the biggest and deadliest wildfire in California’s history started. It started on Thursday, November 8, around 6:30am and is still alive and burning in Northern California. Southern California isn’t safe either; the Woolsey fire is big and burning everything in its path. According to cnn.com, the Camp fire has currently killed 63 people and over 600 are still missing. The Woolsey fire is big and burning everything in its path and has claimed 3 people so far. The death toll is most immediate, and the property damage rivals the great earthquakes. 

According to AccuWeather, Dr. Joel N. Myers, founder and president of AccuWeather said, “This is a serious humanitarian as well as economic disaster for the state of California, possibly rivaling the negative impacts of the great earthquakes there.” AccuWeather estimates that the total damage and economic impact of the California wildfires has already exceeded $80 billion. This could well turn out to be one of the costliest weather and climate disasters, exceeding the damage caused by recent major hurricanes such as Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey.” 

According to CNN more than 52,000 people have been evacuated due to the spreading of the flames and more than 1,000 people are currently staying in shelters.  This devastating fire has already engulfed 117,000 acres of land in the northern part of California and destroyed more than 7,000 structures including buildings and family homes. Although authorities know the general area where the fire was started, they are still investigating the cause. President Donald Trump tweeted, “I just approved an expedited request for a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of California. Wanted to respond quickly in order to alleviate some of the incredible suffering going on. I am with you all the way. God Bless all of the victims and families affected.” This declaration was made on the 12th in hopes of helping California.

This fire is not only destroying the land, it is destroying the economy.

The Woosley fire in Southern California has also gained ground and is causing more damage and panic. According to The Los Angeles Times, firefighters first responded on Tuesday to flames burning the hill side of the Santa Monica mountains. This is the largest fire to hit Los Angeles in over 100 years. According to the New York Times, the Woosley fire has burned almost 100,000 acres. There is still no number of structures that have been lost. Los Angeles County Fire Chief, Daryl Osby, said, “it’s going to take several more days to get a complete, accurate account of structures lost.” This fire is roughly the same size as Denver, Colorado. It has left parts of Malibu and Los Angeles county in ruins.

There is hope that by next week these fires will be out or at least diminished. According to AccuWeather Myers said, “while there is a chance for some meaningful rainfall next week, it is unlikely that we will see enough precipitation to end the fires across Southern California. There is a somewhat better chance for enough rainfall to diminish the fires in Northern California.” If the weather stays on California’s side the nightmare of the never ending fires will soon be over.