California wildfires: One thousand acres burning every 30 minutes
- Published
More than two million acres of land have been destroyed by wildfires in California, in the US.
That is an area 10 times the size of New York City.
They are the worst wildfires in the area's recorded history and have been raging since August.
The blazes are burning so fast that an area the size of one thousand football pitches is being devastated every 30 minutes.
Firefighters are working hard to put out multiple blazes across the west of the country
Firefighters are working hard on the ground and from the air, but an increase in the winds and temperature is making tackling the blazes much harder.
The fires have been responsible for more than 30 deaths and driven thousands of people from their homes.
Three of this year's fires are now among the top five most destructive in US history.
Newsround spoke with Gabby about the wildfires near her home
When we talk about climate change, we are talking about global changes in the Earth's average temperature. The Earth's average temperature moves up and down naturally, but it has been increasing more rapidly than it usually does. This change is impacting on the planet's environment - which is everything natural around us; rivers, trees, plants and animals.
What is causing California's wildfires?
Scientists reviewing research into the reasons for these fires say rising temperatures are playing a big role.
Parts of the state have experienced record heat levels recently, with a temperature of 54.4 degrees being recorded at Death Valley in California last month.
Wildfire smoke turned the sky red in San Francisco
Earlier this year, the same research team looked into the causes of Australia's fires that raged in the 2019-2020 season.
That study showed that wildfires have increased by eight to 10 times in the last 40 years.
Newsround Special: Australia - Life after the fires
Scientists say climate change is behind an increase in how often and how bad fire weather is - these are periods of time with a higher risk of fire when high temperatures, low humidity, low rainfall and high winds mix.
Dr Matthew Jones from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, who led the review said: "Climate change ultimately means that those forests, whatever state they're in, are becoming warmer and drier more frequently.
"And that's what's really driving the kind of scale and impact of the fires that we're seeing today."
Nasa satellite images show smoke from western US wildfires moving across the country to the east
- Published28 September 2020
- Published29 September 2020
