Amer Ishaq Soharwardi
Bureau Chief Washington DC
At least 35 people have died and more than 43 are missing in the wildfires that have proliferated across the West Coast, with more deaths expected. In California, fires that blazed across at least 3.2 million acres of land have resulted in the deaths of at least 22 people. In Oregon, wildfires have killed 10 people and resulted in evacuation orders or alerts for 500,000 people, or over 10% of the state’s population.
The worst of the damage has been in California, Oregon, and Washington, including about two-thirds of the burned acreage in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom is heaping praise on first responders and pointing blame at climate change.
Dozens of people missing in wildfire zones remain unaccounted for as governors of all three states brace for “a mass fatality incident.” Sixteen people are still missing in Butte County, California, which was previously ravaged by the Camp Fire in 2018. The Camp Fire was one of the deadliest wildfires in history, with a death toll of 85 people.
Experts say the toll of the West Coast wildfires is likely to extend beyond their immediate impact on public safety. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), a government agency, said in a report that increasing wildfires could spark a financial crisis. Home values, tourism, and worker productivity could plummet as a result of the wildfires.
The wildfire creates an environmental disaster as the air quality in West Coast cities is currently some of the worst in the world due to wildfire smoke, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that wildfire smoke can irritate lungs and affect immune systems, making people more susceptible to contracting COVID-19. President Donald Trump will visit travel to California today.
