Why is California so vulnerable to wildfires?

Brut America

Wildfires in California have burned three times more land than last year’s record-breaking season. Here’s why California is so vulnerable to wildfires ...

Transcript

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01:10The fire tornado, or fire-nado, got spinning so fast,

01:15it got up to 140 mile-an-hour spinning.

01:18♪♪

01:25Wind increases the supply of oxygen,

01:27which results in the fire burning more rapidly.

01:30It also removes the surface fuel moisture,

01:33which increases the drying of the fuel.

01:35Air pressure will push flames, sparks, firebrands into new fuel.

01:40♪♪

01:45Hots, as I say often, are getting hotter.

01:47The dries are getting a lot drier.

01:49This morning with another severe heat wave in the West

01:52that is fueling destructive wildfires.

01:54♪♪

02:01You're seeing that in record-breaking this,

02:03record-breaking that on a consistent basis.

02:06No longer is it anomalous.

02:08What is anomalous is having consistency

02:11in terms of normality with records.

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02:22This is not the new normal.

02:24This is the new abnormal.

02:26And this new abnormal will continue,

02:29certainly in the next 10, 20, 30 years.

02:34This is not the new normal.

02:36This is the new abnormal.

02:38And this new abnormal will continue,

02:41certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years.

02:45And unfortunately, the best science is telling us

02:48that dryness, warmth, drought, all those things,

02:53they're going to intensify.

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