This year’s Fourth of July might be one of the hottest ever. And with drought gripping large parts of the United States, a holiday built around setting off thousands of explosions could also mean more wildfires. According to reporting from NBC News, millions of Americans are heading into Independence Day under dangerous heat alerts while firefighters battle dozens of active blazes across the West.
Roughly 162 million people in 35 states are under heat advisories as an oppressive heat dome launches temperatures into the upper 90s and low 100s. In some places, that deadly one-two punch combo of heat and humidity will make it feel like it’s upwards of 115 degrees.
This isn’t isolated to one unfortunate part of the country. Midwest cities like Chicago and Minneapolis are going to get pummeled just like northeastern stalwarts New York, Philadelphia, and DC, just like cities down south like Orlando and Miami are going to get hammered by heat—and they’re not going to get much reprieve once night falls, as temperatures will hardly relent.
Extreme Heat and Active Wildfires Raise Fourth of July Safety Concerns
The human body naturally cools itself by evaporating sweat. But high humidity messes with our natural cooling system, much like trying to cool off with a hot towel. Health officials warned that heat exhaustion and heatstroke can hit quickly, especially older adults, young kids, and pregnant people. Under the right conditions, even a healthy person isn’t immune.
Meanwhile, in the interior West, a.k.a. states like Utah and Colorado, it is going to be as hot as it is east of the Mississippi, but the conditions are just right for wildfires. More than 50 large wildfires are burning nationwide right now, with the largest one in Utah that has burned more than 93,000 acres, with three firefighters dying battling blazes along the Colorado-Utah border over the weekend.
And now we’re going to celebrate a holiday in which custom dictates that we set off millions of explosions across the country.
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