LOS ANGELES (AFP) --
California is burning. Wildfires are tearing through the U.S. state at an alarming rate and heating up the vote on recalling the embattled governor.
Democrat Gavin Newsom’s detractors blame him for all of California’s ills: from the housing crisis to the march of Covid-19.
And the record-breaking fire season -- shaping up to be the worst ever -- is another stick with which to beat him.
“This is about the failure of government to do the most basic things, like manage our forests,” Republican candidate Kevin Kiley said.
With hundreds of homes already lost and thousands of people forced to flee encroaching flames, it might seem like a winning strategy.
But even those who have seen their property reduced to ashes say the problem is bigger than the 53-year-old politician at California’s helm.
“I just think that the fires have increased. We’re in a drought,” said Tim Close, who learned of the destruction of his family’s cabin near South Lake Tahoe when he saw an AFP photograph of it burning.
“You can just look over what’s happened in the last five or six years. And it seems like you know, every season is getting worse. “
Scientists say man-made climate change is making the western United States hotter, drier and more vulnerable to destructive fires.
The blazes are a natural part of the forest cycle, but their increased regularity and ferocity is down to the rise in global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
As voters return their ballots in the run up to Tuesday’s deadline, thousands of firefighters continue to battle huge blazes, like the Caldor Fire that last week emptied out the tourist town of South Lake Tahoe.
Further north, the Dixie Fire is already the second biggest blaze in state history, having torched more than 3,800 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).