Raging wildfires torch air quality in Western states
Large wildfires are burning in Western states including California, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, requiring evacuations and road closures. Firefighting efforts are complicated by hot weather with low humidity, as well as "very steep and rugged terrain."
Much of the region, even in areas relatively distant from the fires, is dealing with heavy smoke that is raising health concerns and disrupting outdoor events. "There aren't even the correct health categories to describe what they're seeing," said air quality specialist Saran Coefield of the smoke in one Montana town.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
US sanctions Israeli West Bank settler group
Speed Read The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Amana, Israel's largest settlement development organization
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge
Speed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - November 19, 2024
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - junk food, health drinks, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversible
Speed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods
Speed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cuba roiled by island-wide blackouts, Hurricane Oscar
Speed Read The country's power grid collapsed for the fourth time in just two days
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Wildlife populations drop a 'catastrophic' 73%
Speed Read The decline occurred between 1970 and 2020
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Floridians flee oncoming Hurricane Milton
Speed Read The hurricane is expected to cause widespread damage in the state
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unchecked wildfire sears Southern California
Speed Read Firefighting crews continue to battle wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties amid heat wave
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The economic cost of the wildfire season
The Explainer Wildfires are exacting an 'eye-popping' financial toll for communities in fire-prone areas and beyond
By Abby Wilson Published
-
Firefighters battle enormous California wildfire
Speed Read The Park Fire in Northern California was larger than the city of Los Angeles
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published