Independent UK: Fire ‘whirls’ spawned by out of control blaze threaten California’s iconic Joshua trees
The York fire, California’s largest of 2023, ignited on Friday in the Mojave National Preserve and had burned through 82,000 acres by Wednesday morning, officials said.
The blaze is creating dramatic “fire whirls” that are burning through groves of Joshua trees, the spiky plants that only grow in the US southwest and northern Mexico.
The York fire has already destroyed an unknown number of Joshua trees in the Mojave National Preserve, and was on the verge of causing catastrophic damage.
“We’re looking at sad outcomes for potentially millions of Joshua trees,” Mojave Desert Land Trust Cody Hanford told CNN.