Topline
Two people were found dead inside a car after the McKinney fire, the largest of 2022, scorched swaths of Northern California, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday, as many in the West brace for what experts worry may be a prolonged and deadly fire season.
Firefighters found two people dead inside a scorched car in the path of California’s McKinney fire, … [+]
Key Facts
Thousands were forced to evacuate as the McKinney fire exploded in size over the weekend, to more than 55,000 acres, just north of California’s drought-stricken Cascade Range, near the Oregon border.
The fire is one of six active wildfires in California and it’s 0% contained, according to the state-run site Cal Fire, sparking fears forecasted erratic winds could spread it uncontrollably.
So far this year, wildfires have burned more than 5.7 million acres, with active fires primarily in Alaska (1.1 million acres), New Mexico (342,111), California (78,280) and Idaho (52,302), according to the National Interagency Fire Center, while at least 11 people have died from the fires, including seven in helicopters involved in firefighting.
The deaths include two who died in a helicopter crash last week while combating a wildfire in Idaho, just days after four more were killed in a helicopter crash while responding to a fire in New Mexico and another pilot carrying fire equipment died in Alaska.
The remains of an elderly couple were also found outside their New Mexico home, which burned in a wind-blown wildfire in April, which appeared to be the first wildfire-related deaths of the year.
Key Background
Wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense as a result of severe droughts and hotter weather driven by climate change, and changes in forestry management that have left large stretches of forestland overgrown, scientists say. California wildfires killed 106 people in 2018, including 85 in the Camp Fire in Butte County — the deadliest in state history.
Tangent
The death toll from a devastating flood in rural Kentucky rose to 30 Monday, three days after a storm dropped more than 10 inches of rain on the eastern part of the state. It was just the latest example of extreme weather this summer, following floods in St. Louis and intense heat waves across the country, and the toll could rise even more, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
Further Reading
California’s Largest Wildfire This Year Surpasses 50,000 Acres (Forbes)
Death Toll Hits 25 In Kentucky Flooding—And Expected To Rise, Governor Says (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/08/01/california-wildfire-kills-two-among-the-first-wildfire-deaths-of-2022/