Цаг уурын өөрчлөлт болон байгалийн бүс дэх суурьшлын тэлэлт нь ойн түймрийн аюулыг урьд өмнөхөөс илүү нэмэгдүүлж байна.
Вашингтон их сургуулийн Аюул ослыг бууруулах судалгаа, төлөвлөлтийн хүрээлэнгийн захирал асан Боб Фрейтагийн тэмдэглэснээр, сүүлийн үеийн түймрүүд нь уур амьсгалын өөрчлөлттэй шууд холбоотой бөгөөд энэ нь нэг удаагийн тохиолдол биш юм. AccuWeather-ийн ахлах цаг уурч Пол Пастелокийн шинжилгээгээр, өвлийн улиралд цас бага орсон нь хөрсний чийгшлийг бууруулж, хаврын халалттай хавсран хуурайшилтыг эрчимжүүлжээ. Спокан хотод ердийн үеийнхээс хоёр дахин бага цас орсон нь түймэр дэгдэх таатай нөхцөлийг бүрдүүлсэн байна.
Вашингтоны Байгалийн нөөцийн газрын мэргэжилтэн Раян Родрукын мэдээлснээр, хүчтэй салхины улмаас ойн түймрийн оч 3 миль гаруй зайд тархаж, нуурыг давтлан ой руу шилжсэн нь гал унтраах ажиллагааг улам хүндрүүлжээ. Одоогоор Спокан хотод хүчтэй салхи үргэлжлэх төлөвтэй байгаа нь нөхцөл байдлыг улам муутгаж болзошгүй байна. 2025 онд Лос-Анжелес хотод гарсан түймэртэй адил энэхүү гамшиг нь зэрлэг байгаль болон суурьшлын бүс хоорондын зааг дээр дэгдсэн нь онцлог юм.
Хотын зөвлөлийн гишүүн Клитцкегийн хэлснээр, газарзүйн байрлал болон төлөвлөлт муутай суурьшлын бүсүүд нь нүүлгэн шилжүүлэлтийг удаашруулж, яаралтай тусламжийн үйлчилгээг саатуулж байна. Судалгаагаар, хүн ам болон ойн бүс давхцсан газруудад барьсан байшингууд түймэрт өртөх магадлал өндөр болохыг тогтоожээ. Иймд түймрийн эрсдэлтэй бүсүүдэд байшингийн эргэн тойронд мод, бут сөөггүй хамгаалалтын бүс байгуулах нь гал түймрээс сэргийлэх чухал алхам болохыг мэргэжилтнүүд зөвлөж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
“This fire, and what we’re expecting to come, makes no sense unless you connect the dots through a changing climate,” said Bob Freitag, who recently served as director of the Institute of Hazards Mitigation Research and Planning at the University of Washington. “The science is known, and this is not something that is a one-off.”
According to Paul Pastelok, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, a lack of snowfall across the region helped set the stage for these fires. Normally, snowpack builds up during the winter and melts gradually through the rest of the year, providing a steady source of moisture. This year, the already-small snowpack was hit with hot spring temperatures, causing this reserve to melt early and leaving the landscape parched. Spokane had half of the typical snowfall this year, Pastelok said. Other parts of the state had even less, with many areas reaching historic lows.
In the past few days, powerful winds carried hot embers from the Little Giant fire, a 70,000-acre blaze in central Washington, for more than 3 miles, sending the flames clear over the waters of Lake Chelan and into the forests on the other side. Ryan Rodruck, a communications manager at the Washington Department of Natural Resources, called the overall situation “extremely tragic” and said that it had been an exceptionally challenging season for the thousands of wildland firefighters deployed across the state.
In Spokane, more high winds forecast for this weekend could further worsen conditions, said Benjamin Cossel, a wildfire public information officer from California working with firefighting crews in the city.
The situation is comparable to the Los Angeles fires in 2025, Cossel said. Both outbreaks began in wild areas before moving into partially forested suburban neighborhoods. The urban setting also makes the smoke especially toxic, he said. A recently released study found that the Los Angeles fires, which sent more than 200,000 residents fleeing, had exposed an estimated 3.3 million people to high concentrations of a cancer-causing toxin.
Klitzke, the city council member, said the affected neighborhoods in Spokane were known to be vulnerable to fires. Steep terrain and abundant plant life helped the fires spread quickly over the weekend, while the winding cul-de-sac layouts of the neighborhoods slowed evacuations and made it difficult for emergency responders to reach the fires.
“These are neighborhoods with thousands of people and only two ways in or out,” Klitzke said, adding that many evacuees were stuck waiting in traffic for hours, watching the houses around them burn down.
Areas where homes mingle with natural areas are known as the wildland-urban interface. This kind of suburban housing is the fastest growing type of land development in the United States, and research shows that the homes built in these areas are more likely to burn down when wildfires spread.
“We already knew that this was a dangerous situation,” she said. “We need to get really serious about addressing climate change.”
Increasingly, fire-prone states like California are requiring homeowners to clear the trees and shrubs in a radius surrounding their home. This buffer zone, known as a defensible space, can dramatically reduce the risk that a wildfire will ignite a building.
People chose to live in these neighborhoods precisely because they love the vegetation, Cossel said. “I understand why people don’t want to remove them,” he said. “But we can’t live in that world anymore because of these fires.”
This story was originally published by Grist andis reproduced here as part of theClimate Deskcollaboration.
