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((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Western Fires Climate Change (TV)
HEADLINE: Experts: Severe Droughts, Fires Signal Environmental Shift
TEASER: Climate Change, Extreme Weather Require Adaptation, experts say.
PUBLISHED AT: Thursday, 06/24/2021
BYLINE: Mike O’Sullivan
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Los Angeles
VIDEOGRAPHER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, BR
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AFP, AP, REUTERS
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE: TV
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRODUCTION))
[[Parts of the western United States are seeing record high temperatures in the midst of drought — signaling, experts say, long-term changes in the weather. With dozens of fires now burning in Western states, President Joe Biden will convene a meeting of western governors, emergency officials and others to talk about the problem in coming days (next week). More from VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports.]]
((SHOW AP CLIPS OF ARIZONA FIRES, PLANE DROPPING FIRE RETARDANT, AP CLIP OF CALIFORNIA FIRE NEXT TO FREEWAY))
((NARRATOR))
Some 50 large fires are burning in the West, including in California, which had its worst fire season in recent history last year.
((SHOW REUTERS CLIP OF LAKE OROVILLE, REUTERS CLIP OF LAKE MEAD))
Water levels have plummeted at Lake Oroville, the state’s second largest reservoir, and at Lake Mead in neighboring Nevada and Arizona, threatening to reduce electric power generation,
((SHOW REUTERS CLIP OF COUPLE POSING AT TEMPERATURE SIGN IN DEATH VALLEY))
...as temperatures soar to record levels in Death Valley and other places.
((SHOW AFP CLIP OF PARADISE FIRE TRUCK))
In the town Paradise, destroyed by a devastating 2018 blaze, firefighters are getting ready for the possibility of another deadly fire season.
((John Messina, Butte County Fire Chief)) ((AFP))
“The moisture that is in the vegetation is extremely low for this time of year, which means our potential for a long duration fire season is there.”
((SHOW AFP CLIP OF FIREFIGHTERS CLEARING BRUSH IN WOODED AREA))
((NARRATOR))
Most wildfires are started by people or lightning strikes. When the brush is dry and dense, as it is today, the danger is higher.
((Susan Prichard, University of Washington Fire Ecologist))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“We’ve had vegetation build up to a point to where now there’s a lot of fuel to burn on these landscapes at the same time that these landscapes are drying with climate change.”
((SHOW AP SHOTS OF WILDFIRE, HELICOPTER, FIREIGHTER ON GROUND, FIRE TRUCKS))
((NARRATOR))
Resources have been stretched thin in recent years, and large fires sometimes burn until the weather changes.
((Mike Flannigan, University of Alberta Wildland Fire Expert))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“It makes a nice picture to see an airplane drop retardant on a fire, but if that fire is of any size - fuels are dry, it’s hot, dry windy, and high intensity fire - it’s like spitting on a campfire.”
((SHOW AP SHOT OF MAN COLLECTING WATER, REUTERS SHOT OF MIST RISING FROM RIVER))
((NARRATOR))
In other countries too, people face a rising risk of climate-induced disasters, say experts.
((Mike Flannigan, University of Alberta Wildland Fire Expert))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“Climate change, extreme weather, extreme droughts, extreme flooding, it’s all tied together. Extreme heat and sometimes extreme cold.”
((AFP SHOT OF AUTO EXHAUST))
((NARRATOR))
Controlling carbon emissions can slow the process, say experts, but in parts of the western United States, it’s probably too late to stop it.
((LeRoy Westerling, University of California-Merced Climate and Wildfire Expert))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“It’s the difference between having a big challenge of adaptation versus an impossible challenge.”
((NARRATOR))
That’s partly because extreme weather is changing conditions both on and underneath the earth’s surface.
(LeRoy Westerling, University of California-Merced Climate and Wildfire Expert))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“Our water supply is going to be lower and less secure. It’s going to be more variable.
((SHOW AFP SHOT OF HELICOPTER DROPPING WATER ON FIRE))
((NARRATOR))
This is happening elsewhere in the world, increasing the risk as fire seasons get longer.
((Susan Prichard, University of Washington Fire Ecologist))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“But I do think there’s actually a way to reduce the fuels around where we live and start working with fire, living with fire so that when it does come, it’s not so destructive.”
((SHOW AFP SHOT OF FIREFIGHTERS CLEARING BRUSH, AFP SHOT OF FACTORY EMISSIONS))
((NARRATOR))
We can manage the threat, she says, while reducing the carbon emissions that are changing the climate.
((Mike O’Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJuly 29, 2022 19:06 EDT
BylineMike O’Sullivan
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
