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A Look At Wildfires Burning In California, And The Continuing Drought

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A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop near homes at the Sand Fire on July 24, 2016 in Santa Clarita, California. Triple-digit temperatures and dry conditions are fueling the wildfire, which has burned across at least 32,000 acres so far and is only 10% contained. (David McNew/Getty Images)
A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop near homes at the Sand Fire on July 24, 2016 in Santa Clarita, California. Triple-digit temperatures and dry conditions are fueling the wildfire, which has burned across at least 32,000 acres so far and is only 10% contained. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Wildfires are burning up and down the state of California. The largest is in Los Angeles County, where the Sand Fire has burned more than 33,000 acres since last weekend. Most of the thousands of people ordered to evacuate were allowed to return home last night, as firefighters got a handle on the blaze.

Even though the Sand Fire appears under control, another big fire up the coast near Big Sur continues to burn. Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti talks with Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Rich Thompson of the National Weather Service about how prolonged drought conditions are fueling fires across the west.

Guests

Rich Thompson, National Weather Service incident meteorologist for the Sand fire. The National Weather Service tweets @NWSLosAngeles.

Bill Patzert, climatologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The lab tweets @NASAJPL.

This segment aired on July 26, 2016.

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