A growing wildfire east of Sacramento, Calif., has already forced evacuations and is, thus far, just 5 percent contained, officials said, according to CBS Sacramento. The Kyburz Fire in El Dorado County burned more than 100 acres and escalated out of control thanks to California's concerning dry conditions and the precarious, steep terrain of the local area.
The fire, which began early Thursday afternoon, forced the closure of Highway 50, which links Sacramento to Lake Tahoe, and is being made worse by unpredictable winds, reported CBS SF Bay Area. All eyes will be on the 200-plus firefighters tackling the blaze, both on the ground and in the air, as they look to contain the fire before it creeps closer to power lines surrounding residential areas.
"You get a wind on that, it's just going to be tenfold," said Jon Clanin of the El Dorado National Forest Service. "And that's what we see here in this canyon of the 50 corridor all the time."
The fire is just the latest in a long line of similar blazes exacerbated by California's drought. Earlier this summer, it was estimated by the U.S. Forest Service that over $1.7 billion would go toward curbing wildfires, and the most recent events in Kyburz suggest the approximation was well within reason.
"We are seeing wildfires in the United States grow to sizes that were unimaginable just 20 or 30 years ago," said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell in May, reported Time. "We expect 2015 to continue the trend of above average fire activity."
Larger fires threaten not only homes and residents, but natural ecosystems and watersheds that the state cannot afford to compromise. The combination of higher temperatures and altered weather patterns make California a vulnerable place heading forward, and incidents in the dry state serve as costly reminders of the urgency to act on climate change.
