We are continuing to monitor the western wildfires and how they are impacting agriculture.
One of the largest, the Bootleg Fire, has now scorched nearly 365,000 acres in Oregon. That is an area greater than all of Los Angeles, and nearly half the size of Rhode Island.
The Oregon Department of Forestry says that the fire is generating so much heat and energy that it is changing the weather. Normally, the weather predicts what the fire will do, but in this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do.
Farmers are struggling with water as power has been cut off to irrigation pumps.
In northern California, the Dixie Fire has now doubled in size in the last 24 hours, now burning more than 40,000 acres. It may have been set off by a blown transformer. The state’s largest utility provider said it responded to a power outage one week ago and found the blown transformer in a heavily wooded area.
The flames spread fast before Cal Fire could arrive.
Related:
80 large fires are burning in 13 states, scorching more than a million acres