California records first gigafire’ as inferno spans a million acres
CALIFORNIA’S unprecedented wildfires are now spanning such distances they have been classified as a “gigafire”.
The August Complex, a group of fires burning in and around the Mendocino National Forest in northern California, has torched more than one million acres, and rising, making it the state’s first “gigafire”, a term coined by academics to describe the scope of massive wildfires in the US west.
The 2020 wildfire season has shattered records, with scientists and state officials putting much of the blame on global warming. “If that’s not proofpoint testament to climate change, I don’t know what is,” Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, said.
In Napa Valley’s wine- growing region, diminishing gusts late on Sunday and early on Monday helped crews gain some ground over the Glass Fire.
Despite its colossal size, the August Complex fire has burned in remote, sparsely populated areas, keeping property losses relatively low but a firefighter was killed by the blaze.
No s erious i njuries have been reported in the much smaller Glass Fire, but nearly 1,500 homes and other buildings have been reduced to ruins in Napa and neighbouring Sonoma County, including at least two wineries.
The fire broke out during the region’s grape harvest after a spate of other large blazes during the summer, jeopardising Napa-sonoma’s 2020 vintage.
Since January, wildfires across California have burned well over four million acres, or 6,250 square miles, and have claimed 31 lives.
President Trump, a climate change denier, claimed dry, dead trees were “exploding” and igniting fires. There is no evidence to support the theory.