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A firefighter sprays water on the Park Fire burning near Forest Ranch, California. Photo: Nic Coury/AP/dpa
Keystone
A fierce forest fire spread massively in the north of the US state of California over the weekend. According to the Cal Fire authority, an area of more than 1,400 square kilometers was affected on Saturday evening (local time) - that is more than the area of the city of Los Angeles.
Since Friday, the so-called "Park" fire north of Sacramento has almost doubled in size. It is now the seventh largest fire in California's history, Cal Fire announced on the X platform.
According to the authorities, more than 4,000 buildings are threatened by the flames. An initial inspection of the damage on site confirmed at least 20 destroyed buildings. The numbers could rise in the coming days.
Weather aids firefighting efforts
As the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported, the firefighting work made some progress on Saturday thanks to cooler weather. Temperatures, which had been over 37 degrees Celsius on Friday, had dropped to just under 30 degrees. The humidity had also risen.
"We are using this weather to our advantage," the newspaper quoted a fire department spokesperson as saying. On Saturday, more than 1,000 additional firefighters were deployed, some from other states. According to the authorities, the fire was ten percent under control by the evening (local time).
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are currently 86 major fires in the USA, most of them in Oregon, California's neighboring state. According to the authorities, a pilot crashed his firefighting plane there on Friday and died.
In view of climate change, experts are warning that fires are becoming more frequent and more destructive.
28.07.2024, 11:30
