Written by Julianne Foster
Gov. Newsom has declared another state of emergency this year amidst the damage done by so many wildfires terrorizing California. This fire season proves to be the worst in California’s recorded history and continues to get worse.
Overall, over 18,000 firefighters are fighting to contain 27 major wildfires that have destroyed about four million acres, evacuated more than 68,000 people, killed 26 people, and destroyed more than 7,000 structures.
Northern California has been experiencing another onslaught of dry heat waves and winds, making the work to contain the fires even more difficult. The Glass Fire in Sonoma and Napa counties remain at 0% contained and the Zogg Fire in Redding is now at 39% containment, while three people have died because of it. Not only have homes been destroyed, but businesses as well. Wine Country residents in Sonoma County are witnessing their livelihoods being burned to the ground, which have taken years of hard work to create and grow.
Even as winds are expected to die down in the North, Southern California residents may be on guard as Santa Ana winds suffocate the area in more dry heat, with temperatures rising into triple digits.
Gov. Newsom’s blame has fallen on global warming and pollution, leading him to take extensive steps with newly signed executive orders. This goal of lowering the amount of pollution in California’s atmosphere has little chance of seeing the expected results since the cause of the wildfires points to the problems in forest management in California, which has been ignored for years. Newsom has also been disrupting peoples’ lives through the approval of power outages, which has affected 87,500 customers of PG&E.
“The dynamics of climate change, the dynamics as it relates to the lack of forest management over the last century, have created a dynamic of real concern as it relates to the spread of these wildfires in ferocious ways,” said Newsom. Although he acknowledged the participating effects of forest management, he has not taken action to solve it—and Californians are paying the price.
