As many people know, wildfires in the year 2020 have been ferocious, breaking all previous records. Dozens of people have died, their homes and businesses burned to the ground. However, that happened all on the west coast, including states like California, Washington, and Oregon. On the east coast, there have been much fewer wildfires compared to the catastrophic fires on the west coast.
A major factor happens to be the effects of climate change. According to the Philly Voice, lack of rain, resulting in drought, leads to wildfires. The Philly Voice wrote, "wildfires will become more frequent and intense and even longer." The east does not suffer from drought as badly as the West Coast does; fires destroy acres of land with no rain to slow it down.
Another factor relates to the amount of forest area or bushy land. Fires have been starting in the west at places like forests or national parks, where trees and wood that burn easily fill acres of land. According to US Parks, the west coast has thirty-nine national parks, while the east coast only has fourteen. Fewer national parks exist on the east coast due to populous cities like New York and Boston having less open land available.
World Population Review states that thirty-nine million people live in California, in contrast to the eight million in New York. Some wildfires can be caused by human error. For example, a woman and her husband had a gender reveal party in California. They accidentally started a fire this year that burned thousands of acres. Some fires have happened because of a simple cigarette, another example of human error.
Fires still rage on the west coast of the country, while the east coast has avoided prolific wildfires this year. If planning to camp this fall, keep this in mind when practicing fire safety, and please limit gender reveal parties to pink or blue cake, and preferably no pyrotechnics.
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