[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap] slight shift in weather gave some respite to the thousands of firefighters and California inmates and immigrants who are fighting wildfires up and down the state. Gov. Jerry Brown calls the intensifying fire season as a result of climate change a “new normal,” and in recent days, it’s certainly felt like it.
For days now, the sky over many parts of Southern California has been ashen orange, due to the effects of the Holy Fire in the Santa Ana mountains area, between Orange and Riverside counties. Readers in inner-city Los Angeles said ash was falling on their vehicles from the far-away fire. On Friday, a neon burnt tint bore on the sun for most of the day, but by Sunday, the fire was nearing half-way containment.
Now if all of it looks and feel ominous, it’s because it is. More fires are happening with greater intensity, and formerly distinct fire seasons are colliding into one, experts and reports say. While the drought — technically over although that’s up to debate — gave way to a rainy winter, the state is not fully recovered to prevent destructive fires from happening, fire officials say.
Yosemite National Park, one of the greatest natural wonders in the United States and a major draw for Californians who enjoy camping and hiking, was closed for 20 days due to the Ferguson Fire. The park is set to reopen on Tuesday.
“Statistically we're ahead of last year,” Scott McLean, a Cal Fire deputy chief, said last month. “We need several years of significant winters to get us back to the place we were before.”