This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
More than 200 wildfires broke out in the southeastern US last week, marking an active start to the region’s annual fire season. A particularly large fire in a forest near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, forced dozens of evacuations and scorched more than 2,000 acres of land. Firefighters have largely contained the most severe blazes, but fire risk remains high in parts of the region.
Severe wind and an unusually long period of dryness in the Southeast have made it easier for wildfires to ignite and spread. Meanwhile, a weather disaster that hit last year may