America: Heat and strong winds may increase forest fires in the west of the country

ArabiaWeather.com – Dozens of forest fires raged Monday in extremely dry regions of the western United States, including the largest in Washington state to date, while an unusual rise in temperature and the return of strong winds were expected to increase the danger of fires in the Pacific Northwest. later this week.

Kristin Kozakos, a spokeswoman for the US Forest Service, said the fire season created challenges like never before as large areas of the Rocky Mountains, the US Northwest and California were burning simultaneously.

The National Joint Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said nearly 20 fires in Washington and Oregon have burned more than 1 million acres.

The extraordinary scale of the fires this summer strained resources, prompting a rare mobilization of firefighting reinforcements from the US military and from foreign countries.

Kozakos said dozens of fire control and firefighting units from Australia and New Zealand advanced to the joint center headquarters on Monday in preparation for their deployment to fight bushfires in Washington state.

The Joint Center said about 200 Army soldiers from Joint Base Lewis McCord near Tacoma have already joined units on the front lines in Washington state, as well as units from Canada.

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