⁍ Dozens of conflagrations have raged across more than 5 million acres (1.6 million hectares) in Oregon, California and Washington state since August.

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⁍ The region’s increasingly dry and overgrown forests have become large-scale tinderboxes over decades.

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⁍ U.S. President Donald Trump blames poor forest management for the increasing number and intensity of fires.

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⁍ The governors of California and Oregon – the states worst hit this season – say climate change is largely responsible.

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– President Trump has blamed poor forest management for wildfires that have raged across more than 5 million acres in Oregon, California, and Washington state since August, killing at least 35 people and destroying thousands of homes. The governors of California and Oregon—the states worst hit this season—say climate change is largely responsible. Scientists say both factors are at work. Starting in the early 1900s, wildfires were fought aggressively and suppressed, which led to a build-up of dead trees and brush in forested areas. That means more fuel for bigger, more intense, and damaging wildfires. But changes in climate and weather patterns—warming temperatures, periods of drought, and erratic rains—also are causes. “We don’t want to minimize the impact of climate because it’s significant already and because it’s growing in the future,” University of California San Diego climate researcher Dan Cayan tells Reuters. The region generally experienced a relatively dry winter, leaving forests particularly dessicated and vulnerable to extreme heat that materialized in August. Dry, gusty winds known as Santa Ana in Southern California and Diablo in Northern California contributed to the fires’ rapid spread. A drought-induced infestation of bark beetles killed 150 million trees alone in California, creating huge swaths of easily flammable material. California also experienced thunderstorms with very little rain that contributed to a surge in dry lightning strikes—the most widespread burst of such storms in California since 2008. In mid-August, nearly 6,000 lightning strikes were recorded during a single 24-hour stretch. Nine of the 10 most destructive fires in California have happened in the last decade, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.