USA Wildfires in California pushed back

Firefighters have succeeded in pushing back the forest fires in southern California. By Saturday evening (local time), the emergency services were able to bring around a fifth of the burning area under control, as the Ventura County Fire Protection Agency reported on X. The fire was still smouldering, especially in steep, impassable terrain with dry vegetation.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times newspaper, a change in the weather made the work of around 3,000 firefighters easier. The paper reported that there was no wind on Saturday and the relative humidity had risen. This weather situation would continue until Monday, but from Tuesday onwards it could become windier and drier again.

Many houses destroyed, but no injuries so far

Forest and bush fires are a regular occurrence in the dry south of California. The most recent so-called "Mountain Fire" broke out on Wednesday near the town of Camarillo, northwest of Los Angeles. It destroyed at least 132 houses and other buildings and damaged 88 others. More than 83 square kilometers of terrain have fallen victim to the flames so far.

There was also a fire at the weekend in New York, almost 4,000 kilometers from the West Coast metropolis of Los Angeles as the crow flies. The fire broke out on Friday in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Bronx as well as in neighboring New Jersey, as reported by the New York Times. A pungent smell of smoke drifted through the streets of the most populous city in the USA on Saturday. Such large-scale fires are rare in New York, but the city is also currently suffering from drought.

SDA