More than 100 wildfires have ripped through parts of the U.S. West in recent weeks, consuming areas nearly the size of New Jersey, killing at least 24 people and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
While wildfires typically erupt in states west of the Rocky Mountains in late summer, climate change has made matters worse by contributing to greater extremes in wet and dry seasons, scientists say. As a result, vegetation flourishes then dries out, leaving more abundant, volatile fuel for fires.
- The Long Draw Fire, Oregon’s biggest fire in nearly 150 years, scorched 557,648 acres in the southeastern part of the state in July 2012. It was blamed on a lightning strike.
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