ETERNAL FLAMES CALIFORNIA BURNING

摘要

This time last year, the Rocky Fire was burning a 70,000-acre chunk out of Northern California. Firefighters had never seen anything like it. The blaze ripped through firebreaks and jumped over highways, preying on thirsty trees and decades' worth of built-up brush. Blame the state's severe drought. Without water, trees struggle to fight off bugs and disease-attackers that turn timber into tinder at an alarming rate. Now that the number of dead trees has doubled in the past year, wildfires will burn hotter, bigger, and longer than ever before. According to the state's forest managers, California should get used to a year-round fire season.