Millions of acres scorched in record California fires

staggering scale of California's wildfires reached ar milestone Monday: A single fire surpassed 1 million acres.  new mark for August Complex in Coast Range between San Francisco and Oregon border came a day after total area of land burned by California wildfires this year passed 4 million acres, more than double previous record.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said amount of land scorched by August Complex is larger than all of recorded fires in California between 1932 and 1999. “If that’s t proof point, testament, to climate change, n I don’t kw what is," Newsom said.

August Complex began as dozens of fires ignited by lightning in Mendoci National Forest in mid-August and became California's largest fire on record in September. As of Monday, it covered nearly 1,566 square miles (4,055 square kilometers).

Since beginning of year, more than 8,200 California wildfires have scorched “well over 4 million acres” or 6,250 square miles, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Sunday in a statement. re have been 31 deaths and nearly 8,700 buildings have been destroyed, goverr said.

Numerous studies have linked bigger wildfires in America to climate change from burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists say climate change has me California much drier, meaning trees and or plants are more flammable. Mike Flannigan, who directs Canian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science at Cana’s University of Alberta, says escalation of fires in California and U.S. West is “largely, t solely, due to human-caused climate change.”

August Complex has destroyed 242 structures and damd a half dozen. One firefighter has died and one has been injured. Containment was estimated at 54% on Monday. California remains largely warm and dry but fierce winds that fanned infers a week ago were gone. Cooling at coast was expected to expand into interior and a Pacific storm system remained in forecast for rrn California by next weekend.

This story has t been edited by www.republicworld.com and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.