US west and Canada brace for another heatwave amid more than 70 wildfires

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) The fourth searing heatwave in five weeks is set to strike the west of the United States and Canada this weekend, aggravating wildfires that are already ravaging an area larger than Rhode Island as drought and record-breaking temperatures tied to the climate crisis pummel the region.

The impending heatwave comes as 12 states are already battling 71 active wildfires. The combined area of blaze is about 1,562 sq miles (4,047 sq km), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The largest blaze by far continues to be the Bootleg fire in south-central Oregon, which has been burning for nine days and has devastated an area larger than New York City with no sign of it letting up. As of Thursday morning, the fire is at only 7% containment and the cause is still unknown.

Almost 2,000 houses are currently threatened by the Bootleg fire. Tim McCarley described to the Associated Press having to flee his home in a rural area north of Bly. “The sheriff’s department had been there and they said, ‘If you don’t get out of here now, then you are going to die,’” he said. “We were running around like a chicken with its head cut off, throwing stuff into the car. Then we say, OK, that’s it, we got to go.” ........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/heatwave-us-west-canada-wildfires

[keithbvadu2]

1. How hot is it? Unbearable.

[marmar]

2. Yep. Those were some grizzly temperatures.

[bahboo]

3. unbearable....