Burgeoning migration to the American southwest has resulted in suburban expansion into wilderness areas prone to fires, which are now more severe due to the impacts of climate change.
"While this may all look like business as usual for legions of jaded, CNN-watching fire buffs, the enormity of this year's out-of-control blazes sets them apart.
So why on this scale?
Even by its own arid standards, the Golden State and much of the Southwest has just experienced an unprecedented summer heat wave, shrivelling crops and lawns and turning always-dry terrain into a blast furnace. Drought this year and last sucked the land dry. Rainfall across the region this past six months was just one-fifth of average levels.
Compounding the threat is the fact that despite soaring temperatures, Americans continue to head south and west.
Since 1990, an estimated eight million new homes have been built in the western U.S. states, chiefly in areas described as 'the urban-wild land interface,' code for uprooted city dwellers, many retired, who live in big houses or near pristine forests and deserts.
Those eight million buildings house at least 20 million new western residents.
And in Southern California, whose deserts are dotted with combustible scrub, brush and trees, that translates into ever-growing population density, meaning more houses, built ever-more closely together, and more people for the local fire department to protect.
That density can be catastrophic."
FULL STORY: Two crucial factors fuelling California blazes

Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.

Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.

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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

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