Hawaii has become a breeding ground for wildfires this summer, as the island state continues to be dry and highly flammable amid a summer of immense heat.
Hawaii may see wildfires
Per The New York Times, wildfires could grow in Hawaii this summer because of the dry conditions on the islands. The state’s heavy rainfall even makes it a hot spot for wildfires, too
- “Hawaii may be graced with tropical forests, making parts of the islands some of the wettest places on the planet, but it is also increasingly vulnerable to wildfires,” according to The New York Times. “Heavy rains encourage unfettered growth of invasive species, like guinea grass, and dry, hot summers make them highly flammable.”
Overall, the state has lost 75,107 acres of land across the islands to wildfires since 2018.
- Hawaii is unique for wildfires because of “big shifts in rainfall patterns over the archipelago and tourism’s eclipse of large-scale farming in Hawaii’s economy, allowing nonnative plants to overtake idled sugar cane and pineapple plantations,” The New York Times reports.
Wildfires in the West
The western United States has been hit with a number of wildfires already this summer, as the Deseret News reported. Many of the wildfire conditions have been created because of megadroughts and heat waves sizzling up the West, according to The Weather Channel.
- Firefighting officials have struggled to contain the fires because agencies often hire seasonal workers, according to The Washington Post. But fires have been popping out through the year.