The United States of America is experiencing one of the largest crises and natural disasters, as several areas were hit by fires due to the intensity of the winds, which led to the largest material loss to face natural disasters in the history of the United States, according to the “AccuWeather” website, where losses range from 135 to 150 billion dollars until the moment when the authorities failed to contain the situation.
The site shows “zoom.earth ” to track climate and natural disasters, the fires spread over approximately 266 kilometers, a distance equivalent to the expanses of entire countries in the world, which led to a large exodus of residents in Los Angeles, California and other areas unable to cope with the ongoing natural disaster due to high winds.
The network “CNBC” reported in its report a number of important points about the forest fires in California:
High winds “Santa Ana”:
The winds of the “Santa Ana” blew at a speed of 100 miles per hour, which is much faster than the usual rates. These strong winds, in a severe drought, helped the fire spread over wide distances.
Forest fires usually occur in the summer, but wind speed plays a big role in challenging the spread of fire. In winter, when the winds are more stagnant, fires become more destructive and spread in record time.
Hardening of plants due to climate change:
Climatic changes have made the region hotter and drier over the past year, which significantly dried out the vegetation, and therefore the land is ripe to be turned into easy fuel for fires.
Difficulty of access to the fire:
Firefighters face great challenges in reaching fire sites, as the time factor is one of the decisive factors in the success of fire fighting. If firefighters cannot reach the fire site within a maximum of 10 minutes, the possibility of controlling the fire becomes minimal.
Population density and its impact:
The anthropogenic factor interferes with climatic changes in increasing the risk of fires. In the last twenty years, California has experienced a huge population growth, which has resulted in an increase in the network of power lines, and, consequently, an increase in the likelihood of breakdowns that could lead to fires.
According to map sites, the area of California is one of the largest US states, about 423,970 km2, as it is located in the west of America along the Pacific coast, while the number of residents inside it is about 38.2 million people on an estimated area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), where it is the largest state in terms of population, and the third in terms of area.
