Photos: In the US, smoke from massive wildfires in the West bring haze to East
Published on Jul 21, 2021 04:02 PM IST
- Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that's currently the largest in the US, are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to six miles high. Extreme dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate crisis have made wildfires harder to fight. Climate crisis has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. At least 2,000 homes have been evacuated at some point during the fire and another 5,000 threatened.
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The Statue of Liberty sits behind a cloud of haze in New York City on July 20. According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wildfire smoke from the west has arrived in the tri-state area creating decreased visibility and a yellowish haze in many areas.(Spencer Platt / AFP)
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The New York City skyline is seen through a cover of wildlife smoke from the Edge at Hudson Yards in New York, on July 20. Skies over New York City were hazy Tuesday as strong winds blew smoke east from California, Oregon, Montana and other states. Oregon's Bootleg Fire grew to 606 square miles (1,569 square kilometres) — half the size of Rhode Island, AP reported.(Jeenah Moon / REUTERS)
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Smoke billows from a tree trunk as the Bootleg Fire burns through vegetation near Paisley, Oregon, on July 20. The smoke on the US East Coast was reminiscent of last fall when multiple large fires burning in Oregon in the state's worst fire season in recent memory choked the local skies with pea-soup smoke but also impacted air quality several thousand miles away.(David Ryder / REUTERS)
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The Bootleg Fire burns through vegetation near Paisley, Oregon on July 20. The Oregon fire has ravaged the southern part of the state and has been expanding by up to 4 miles (6 kilometres) a day, pushed by gusting winds and critically dry weather that's turned trees and undergrowth into a tinderbox.(David Ryder / REUTERS)
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A firefighter during nighttime firefighting operations at the Bootleg Fire, near Klamath Falls, Oregon on July 15. Fire crews have had to retreat from the flames for 10 consecutive days as fireballs jump from treetop to treetop, trees explode, embers fly ahead of the fire to start new blazes and, in some cases, the inferno's heat creates its own weather of shifting winds and dry lightning, AP reported.(US Forest Service / AFP)
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Smoke rises from the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon on July 18. Monstrous clouds of smoke and ash have risen up to 6 miles into the sky and are visible for more than 100 air miles.(Bootleg Fire Incident Command via AP)
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A firefighting tanker drops a retardant over the Grandview fire near Sisters, Oregon on July 11. A red flag weather warning signifying dangerous fire conditions was in effect through Tuesday and possibly longer. The fire is 30% contained, AP reported.(Oregon Department of Forestry / AFP)
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