Northern California wildfire zone death toll rises to 4

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Two more cadavers were found in the within the burnt debris of the Northern California wildfire zone tallying the number to four in the state’s largest blaze of the year.

The news has been confirmed by the authorities.

In a statement by the Siskiyou County Sheriff Office said that additional bodies were discovered by the search teams on Monday last at separate residences along State Route 96.

This confirms the number of casualties as four. Other details of the casualties were not immediately disclosed.

Two bodies were also found inside a charred vehicle in a driveway of a home near the tiny unincorporated community of Klamath River which was destroyed by the McKinney Fire.

The fire jumped the Klamath River over the weekend and raged through the tiny community of about 200, destroying many of the homes along with the post office, community hall and other scattered businesses.

More than 100 homes, sheds and other buildings have burned in the McKinney Fire since it erupted last Friday. The blaze remained out of control, authorities said.

Thunderstorms dumped some much-needed rain on Monday and into Tuesday even as temperatures hit the 90s Fahrenheit (above 32.2 Celsius) and the brush, fields and forest remained generally bone-dry.

But the storms also meant a threat of lightning strikes that already sparked several small blazes and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch through late Tuesday night because of concerns that heavy rain could send rocks, mud and water pouring down the fire-scorched slopes.

In addition, the moisture and storms were creating an unstable atmosphere. Such climatic conditions can make firefighting conditions much more hazardous with wind speeds potentially reaching 50 mph (80 kmph) during those storms, fire officials said.

However, the fire didn’t grow on Tuesday, and fire officials said crews were able to use bulldozers to carve firebreaks along a ridge to protect homes and buildings in the county seat of Yreka.

A number of wildfires are raging forests across North California

In the northwestern Montana a fire burned some structures near the town of Elmo. Due to gusty wind the fire spread across 25 sq miles. The Moose Fire in Idaho has already burned more than 85 sq miles in the Salmon Challis National Forest.

According to the reports by the National Interagency Coordination Centre, only 235 of the fire could be contained.

Another wildfire is raging in the northwestern Nebraska which causing evacuation, destruction and damage to several homes.

Climatologists and scientists said that the West has become hotter due to change in the climate over the last three decades. It will continue to make the weather more extreme with frequent and destructive wildfires.

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