Southern California Wildfire Forces Thousands to Evacuate
Facts
- At least 4K residents have been forced to evacuate their homes near Aguanga in Southern California due to a raging wildfire. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning of extreme fire danger in parts of Los Angeles and Riverside counties.1
- Though the wildfire, fueled by gusty Santa Ana winds, has been 10% contained, it has destroyed three structures, threatened nearly 2.4K homes and buildings, and injured a firefighter.2
- Reported Monday afternoon, the Highland Fire has prompted authorities to issue mass evacuation orders as it has spread over 4 square miles (10 square km) of vegetation-filled hills.3
- While air tankers, helicopters, and bulldozers have been pressed into service to fight the blaze, power utility Southern California Edison could cut electricity to nearly 55K customers in four counties.4
- The Santa Ana winds — which carry hot, dry, and dusty air from inland deserts to the Pacific Coast during the fall — have been notorious for contributing to some of California's largest and most destructive wildfires in the past.1
Sources: 1NBC, 2The Hill, 3Associated Press and 4ABC News.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by NPR Online News. Climate change is the driving force behind wildfires in California and has raised the risk of quick-spreading fires by 25%. The climate emergency is real and must factor into the calculations of Californians as they work and live in increasingly dangerous wildland-urban interface areas growing more precarious in a warming world.
- Narrative B, as provided by Forbes. Complex, long-standing natural phenomena are causing the fires in Southern California. Dry winds and low humidity have dried out grass and brush in rural areas, and the Santa Ana winds provide ample conditions for flames to spread. California has historically had very problematic fire conditions — it's far and above the environmental alarmism of squarely blaming climate change.