september14–27, 2020| newyork 11
inside: The scoop on the Times’ new media columnist / Ranking the fitness winners and losers / The COVID-vaccine wars
whatcanbedone?OntheeveofLaborDay weekend,three
ofthefourlargest firesinstatehistorywerestillburning,a Bay
Arearingoffire,withnoneofthemcloseto“contained.” That
Fridaynight,theCreekFirebroke outinFresnoCounty and
quicklygrewpast 100,000acresintwodays.Thestate’soffshore
winds,longunderstoodasthedriverofthemost devastatingand
out-of-controlfiredisasters,hadnotyet evenarrived.Whenthey
did,theyignitedsomethinglike a wholenewfireseasoncom-
pressedintojusta few days.TheBearFire,inNorthernCalifor-
nia,burnedthrough250,000acresina singleday—roughlyas
muchasburnedintheentirestatethroughoutallof 20 19.In
Orovilleandthesurroundingfoothills,20,000peoplewereor-
dered,immediately, toflee.In photographsofthenearbyBidwell
BarBridge,normallygreen,thesky andflamesandbridge were
allblurryvariationsofthesameshadeofburningrust. Youcould
mistakeit fortheGoldenGateBridge.
PhotographbyClara Mokri
Tomorrow:
Da vidWallace-Wells
CaliforniaCan’tWait
fo r a Green ew Deal
Slashing carbon
won’thelpfordecades.
It ’s timeto adapt.
The view from the hills above Berkeley, California, at 9 a.m. on September 9.