The 2021 wildfire season is already on pace to set a record for acreage burned, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

California’s record-setting 2021 wildfire season could run into December.

Tinder-box-like conditions in parched Northern California could mean fires there run all the way toward the end of the year, Anthony Scardina, deputy regional forester for the Forest Service, said, according to The Associated Press.

Embers fly from burning trees as the Caldor Fire growing on Mormom Emigrant Trail east of Sly Park, Calif.AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File

In Southern California, fires raging in September could burn until December as well, he said.

The 2021 wildfire season is already on pace to set a record for acreage burned, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

Through Thursday, fires tracked by Cal Fire and the US Forest Service had burned 1,470,637 acres — far surpassing the 920,165 scorched through that date in 2020.

Julie Price points while talking to another evacuee at the Green Valley Community Church evacuation.AP Photo/Ethan Swope

Wildfires burn nearly year-round in the West, Scardina said, whereas fire seasons used to vary by region, according to AP. This creates a difficult situation for firefighters.

“But the problem is all of those seasons are starting to overlap,” Scardina told the AP. “We start to get stretched thin.”

The Way Station Bar burns as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif. California has already surpassed the acreage burned at this point last year. AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/08/21/california-wildfires-could-blaze-into-december/

The post California’s record-setting wildfires could blaze into December first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) – The U.S. Forest Service has closed hundreds of thousands of acres in Colorado as wildfires continue to burn across the state.

2020 has become one of the worst fire years on record for Colorado. The year has seen two wildfires break an 18-year-old record to become the first and second-largest in state history (Cameron Peak and Pine Gulch), a single wildfire surpassing 200,000 acres for the first time in state history (Cameron Peak), and large wildfires breaking out unusually late in the year. The Colorado Sun, using data from the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, created a chart that shows more wildfires have broken out this year than any other in the last 20 (the chart doesn’t show before 2000), though 2002 still tops 2020 for acreage burned — for now, at least.

As a preventative measure, the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday that it was temporarily closing national forest land in Clear Creek, Jefferson, Gilpin, Boulder, and Larimer counties. The closure went into effect at midnight Wednesday.

Due to unprecedented and historic fire conditions, @usfsarp is temporarily closing all National Forest land in Clear Creek, Jefferson, Gilpin, Boulder, and Larimer counties, effective midnight tonight. Decision to be re-evaluated daily. http://ow.ly/iULS50BXX4X

Violators could face up to $5,000 in fines and six months in prison.

“It became clear to us that this was the path that we needed to take and we do not take it lightly,” Reid Armstrong, a public affairs specialist for the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, told sister station CBS Denver. “We are in extreme drought conditions right now and what we need is enough snow and enough moisture to really change those small fine fuels.”

The Forest Service hopes the move will help firefighters battle current wildfires — and stop any new ones from sparking.

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Source: https://www.kktv.com/2020/10/21/440000-acres-of-forest-land-closed-as-fires-rage-in-colorado/

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The post 440,000+ acres of forest land closed as fires rage in Colorado first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.