Paris Brûle-t-il? [Is Paris Burning?]



No dog, that would be California.

Cough, cough, cough. The smoke has been bad.

In the last week of June 2008, California was the focal point of national fire activity. Over the first weekend of summer, record-breaking lightning activity in the state triggered hundreds of wildfires. Vegetation was dry due to months of drought, and some of the fires spread rapidly. As of June 26, the National Interagency Fire Center reported that 34 uncontained large forest fires were burning in the state, affecting nearly 190,000 acres. (That total does not count fires that are being allowed to burn with minimal management to benefit the ecosystem.)

Current Situation: State and Federal firefighters continue to battle hundreds of wildfires throughout Northern California and are preparing for light to moderate dry thunderstorm activity beginning tonight through the weekend. Fires are activity burning and continuing to spread. News fires are being identified on a regular basis. Priority of firefighting effort is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.

Links: NASA | Cal Fire

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