New heat wave makes it difficult to control major fires in California

Before the forecast that the heat will shoot up during the next hours, the California Independent System Operator, the entity responsible for coordinating and supervising the electrical network, issued a Flex Alert for consumers to minimize energy use.

A # FlexAlert is in effect for today, July 28, from 4 pm to 9 pm Learn more: https: / /t.co/Ra654 tMjOH pic.twitter.com/ElDCFp1RMm

– Flex Alert (@flexalert) July 28, 2021

Failures in the electrical network, in several cases caused by exceeding its capacity, are behind many of the great fires that in recent years have devastated the Californian forest, and are the main hypothesis about the origin of the largest of the currently active fires in the state.

East fire, which has been dubbed “Dixie” by authorities, leads 88, 000 burned hectares since last declared 14 July, and the more than 5, . %.

Check out that smoke from our downtown Sacramento sky cam 😬

Wildfire smoke settled into the Sacramento area Wednesday, creating unhealthy air quality.

See more >> https://t.co/NTakZV2sYE pic .twitter.com / PoQnTkEGWT

– kcranews (@kcranews) July 27, 2021

Fire caused by PG&E tower failure

In accordance with the documentation provided to the California Public Supply Commission, a PG&E operator was repairing an incident on a power line in the past 13 July when he observed how bad fuses at the top of a tower they had started a fire in the undergrowth.

PG&E (as Pacific Gas & Electric is popularly known) is the largest electricity supplier company in the US, and supplies power to virtually the entire population of central and northern California.

The fire brings the worst memories to the residents of nearby Paradise, a city that was razed in 2018 for the deadliest fire in history California, where they died 85 people and it was also started by a fault on a PG&E line.

High temperatures trigger the demand for electrical energy (largely due to the use of air conditioners), which increases the pressure on the network and, combined with the extreme dryness of the terrain, they generate a very favorable scenario for the fire.

Outside of California, in the neighboring state of Oregon, is still active which is currently the largest of all fires in the US, known as “Bootleg”, that was declared after a lightning strike on July 6 in the wooded area of ​​Winema-Fremont.

The flames have already burned more than 167, 000 hectares and firefighters have it contained in a 53%.