Worst ever wildfire season expected in California
California is braced for potentially the worst ever season of wildfires according to Gov. Jerry Brown, seriously affecting the state economy and tourism.
Thousands of evacuees returned to their homes in San Diego County at the weekend after almost a dozen separate fires spread, causing $20 million in damage, but this could just be the beginning according to Gov. Brown.
"We’re getting ready for the worst and we don’t want to anticipate before we know, but we need a full complement of firefighting capacity," Brown said in a TV interview.
He said thousands more firefighters may be needed in the future, and parched California is right on the "front lines" of climate change.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has dealt with over 1,500 fires so far this year, almost double an average year.
The San Diego fires had a limited impact on tourism in the Carlsbad area with some hotels reporting a few cancelations immediately and for the busy Memorial weekend period, but also current guests extending stays until it was completely safe to leave the area.
The FAA said air traffic was re-directed around the thick smoke but did not cause any re-routing of flights.
The US Forest Service will resume a campaign urging daytrippers and tourists to show extra caution in the outdoors, such as extinguishing camp fires properly and avoid parking cars in tall, dry grass.
The agency ran a similar campaign entitled ‘One Less Spark’ last summer.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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