In this episode of Connect the Dots, host Rob Verchick explores the ways the climate crisis drives raging wildfires like the ones that have scorched the western United States, killing dozens of people and destroying thousands of homes and businesses. Joining him are firefighter Sam Perkins, Vicki Arroyo of the Georgetown Climate Center, and Cinthia Moore of Moms Clean Air Force.
As of mid-October, unprecedented blazes have destroyed more than 4.1 million acres across California, with firefighters facing up to 40 new blazes across the state on extreme days. Further north, in Oregon, wildfires ruined two cities, killed 23 people, and demolished 600 homes and 100 commercial buildings in September alone. The same month in Washington, a canyon fire torched 76,000 acres, shutting down a major highway, burning several homes to the ground, and causing hundreds of families to evacuate. There’ve been nearly 100 known wildfires in the West since April, and the scorecard is still in play.
Wildfires are the latest cataclysm amplified by climate disruption, burning rapidly and haphazardly across the western part of this nation, along with countries around the world. And unfortunately, many of us are in the line of fire.
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For more information related to this episode…
More on Our Guests:
 | Sam Perkins is a smokejumper with the U.S. Forest Service. View bio. |
 | Cinthia Moore is a Field Consultant for the Moms Clean Air Force, working in Nevada. View bio. |
 | Vicki Arroyo is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center based at Georgetown University Law Center, where she is also a Professor from Practice. View bio. |
Related CPR Resources:
- Climate, Energy, Justice: The Policy Path to a Just Transition for an Energy-Hungry America
- Webinar: Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Resilience to COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis
- CPR Reports and Op-Eds on Climate Change
- CPRBlog Posts on Climate Change
Other resources:
- Trump administration rejects California’s disaster assistance request for wildfires
- Special Coverage: Risks and Impact of Climate Change on the Fire Service
- Wildfire-weary Californians, ‘tired of this being normal,’ consider uprooting their lives
- As firefighters hope to gain ground on some West Coast fires, others prompt more evacuations
- Stanford researchers forecast longer, more extreme wildfire seasons
- Colorado wildfire erupts amid deepening drought, forcing evacuations in Boulder County
- Why Trump flip-flopped on California disaster relief
Special thanks to:
- The College of Law at Loyola University New Orleans
- The College of Music and Media at Loyola University New Orleans
We’re also grateful to the musical artists featured in this episode, who make their work available to us through a Creative Commons license. Please check them out!
