This footage shows a portion of the ongoing Beckwourth Complex Fire, which has ballooned to more than 12,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations in the area around Plumas National Forest in Northern California.
The fires were sparked last week by lightning in an area that has experienced severe drought and dry conditions of late. Smoke from the fire is currently even visible from Reno, NV across state lines.
New reporting on July 8 makes it clear: we are living through a climate emergency. According to an Associated Press article published Thursday, the number of wildfires and burned land in California so far in 2021 'greatly exceed totals for the same period' in 2020.
2020 was already an historically awful year for wildfires, with 5 of the 6 worst wildfires in state history all occurring last summer.
The 2020 CA wildfire season killed 33 people and was responsible for approx $12 billion in damages. And, somehow, 2021 already seems like it's going to be much worse.
Per the AP's piece, California has reportedly had 4,599 fires between January 1 and July 4, 2021. That's 752 more than were recorded in 2020 through the same span.
This year's fires have also burned approx 115 sq miles of land so far — more than DOUBLE the amount of land burned by this time last year.
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