Wildfires are currently burning throughout both the East and West coast of the US. Firefighters throughout the nation are working to combat the massive blazes being fueled by historic droughts, strong winds, and dry conditions.
Dangerous wildfires are currently spreading among both the West and East coast of the United States. Firefighters across the nation are combating deadly blazes in New York and New Jersey, which have been caused by historic drought conditions, as well as Southern California where strong winds are fueling the fires to spread.
Reports also claim that strong winds are expected to continue throughout Southern California, raising concerns over Mountain Fires, which have already caused immense damage and destruction of dozens of homes in Ventura County. This weekend, firefighters were able to contain those fires up to 31%, but the consistent winds are raising warnings.
Currently there are wind advisories in place throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. According to Cal Fire, the West Coast fires have burned about 20,600 acres with 168 structures being destroyed and another 67 damaged. Thousands of evacuation orders have been enacted, with some citizens returning to their homes completely burned to the ground.
Officials on the East Coast stated that firefighters are mainly fighting an ongoing drought combined with dry air and high winds while they battle the Jennings Creek Fire. The fire has so far burned through thousands of acres by the New York-New Jersey border. The fire is currently 10% contained, and has burned through 3,000 acres of land damaging 25 structures, according to Billy Donnelly, the chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
“It’s inevitable that this fire is going to continue to burn up until it reaches our control lines. Fire officials hope to secure control lines by the end of the week.”
According to Forest Ranger Jeremy Oldroyd of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York has not experienced a fire season like this since 2002. Officials have reported that since October 1st, 600 wildfires have burned through about 7,000 acres in New York and New Jersey.
A majority of these fires, 537, have taken place in New Jersey according to the Forest Fire Service.
“That’s nearly 500 more than the same period last year – and the flames have claimed about 4,500 acres,” Bill Donnelly, chief of the fire service said during a media briefing.
“New Jersey hasn’t seen anything this dry since, you know, we began keeping records, which is one of the obstacles we’re facing. We have fires in New Jersey that have been burning since July 5, if that’s any indication of how dry it is and what we’re dealing with,” Donnelly said.
County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner stated that he’s “grateful for the number of lives that were saved and the fact that we have zero reported fatalities.”
“I know we suffered great damage, but thousands of homes were saved and hundreds of lives were rescued. I know we made mistakes, but we will learn from those mistakes.”
Gardner also stated that there were around 30,000 residents impacted by the fires.
“We were fortunate that the fire started at 9 o’clock in the morning, with daylight. Imagine this at 9 o’clock at night, where it’s already dark. Then you lose power in an area that’s already dark, then you have smoke on top of that. This had the opportunity to be so exponentially worse,” said Jim Fryhoff, the sheriff of Ventura County.
Camarillo residents Hamie Randall and her husband spoke to CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL, telling them that they had to leave their home with just two suitcases. When they returned, their home was completely destroyed by the fired.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams, you know, that this would be the last time I would be standing at my house,” Randall said.
This week, there is a meeting scheduled for residents so they can easily connect residents with various service providers depending on the specific recovery and relief they need.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
