Wildfires Raging on Both Sides of Continental US

The US is literally burning at both ends as firefighters are currently battling out-of-control blazes in coastal states on the continent’s east and west.

Northwest of Los Angeles, the Mountain Fire has prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents. It's damaged or destroyed nearly 300 structures, mostly homes. It has also scorched roughly 32 square miles of land. Meanwhile, a much smaller 5-square-mile blaze is threatening homes along the New York-New Jersey border near West Milford. A park worker died while battling that fire.  

Elsewhere, fires have broken out in the US Northeast. Much of it was under a red flag alert Tuesday. Nevada has also seen fires. There, authorities told 3,000 residents living southwest of Reno to evacuate. The culprit in each case is dry weather and high winds. The Mountain Fire was almost halfway contained as of Tuesday. But it was spread by 80-mile-per-hour winds last week.

Limited rainfall has done little to douse the fires in the Northeast.  

“Beneath the surface leaf litter that falls off the trees, that stuff is bone dry,” Bryan Gallagher, a New York forest ranger, told reporters. “So right now you get a little bit of rain that puts that surface fire out. But if it’s in the duff it’s going to stay there. It’s going to smolder like a cigar until it gets dry enough and then that fire can pop up again.”

Ringwood, New Jersey resident Dana Van Allen told The Associated Press (AP) that she smelled smoke when she woke up Saturday morning. She was terrified to see ashes on her deck.

“We were very scared,” she told the AP. 

Weather experts warned that the region is likely to see little rainfall, if any, in the next week. 

Reflect: What are some ways communities can work together to reduce the impact of wildfires and keep people safe?