California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing to speed up his state’s effort to fight climate change as wildfires rip through the region at a record pace and a 1,000 mile (1,610 kilometer) sheet of smoke drives air quality to dangerous levels.
"This is a climate damn emergency. This is real,” Newsom said in a briefing Friday from a fire zone in Butte County, surrounded by charred trees shrouded in smoke.
His comments came as air quality across the western U.S. deteriorated in the wake of record-breaking wildfires that have consumed more than 3.1 million acres in California and 1.4 million acres in Washington and Oregon. Damage could top $50 billion, according to Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research.