Heatwave hits US West as wildfires rage
SAN FRANCISCO: Firefighters struggled to contain an exploding Northern California wildfire under blazing temperatures as another heatwave blanketed the West, prompting an excessive heat warning for inland and desert areas.
Death Valley in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert reached 53°C on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace Creek. The shockingly high temperature was actually lower than the previous day, when the location reached 54°C).
If confirmed as accurate, the 54.4°C reading would be the hotest high recorded there since July 1913, when Furnace Creek desert hit 57°C, considered the highest measured temperature on Earth.
About 483 kilometres northwest of the sizzling desert, the largest wildfire of the year in California was raging along the border with Nevada. The Beckwourth Complex Fire — a combination of two lightning-caused fires burning 72 kilometres north of Lake Tahoe — showed no sign of slowing its rush northeast from the Sierra Nevada forest region ater doubling in size between Friday and Saturday.
Late on Saturday, flames jumped Interstate 395 and was threatening properties in Nevada’s Washoe County. “Take immediate steps to protect large animals and livestock,” the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District tweeted.
The blaze, which was only 8% contained, increased dramatically to 222 square kilometres.
It was one of several threatening homes across Western states that were expected to see triple-digit heat through the weekend as a high-pressure zone blankets the region.
Pushed by strong winds, a wildfire in southern Oregon doubled in size to 311 square kilometres on Saturday as it raced through heavy timber in the Fremont-winema National Forest near the Klamath County town of Sprague River.
The National Weather Service warned the dangerous conditions could cause heat-related illnesses, while California’s power grid operator issued a statewide Flex Alert from 4pm to 9pm on Saturday to avoid disruptions and rolling blackouts.
The California Independent System Operator warned of potential power shortage, not only because of mounting heat, but because a wildfire in southern Oregon was threatening transmission lines that carry imported power to California.