Story of the Week of October 6, 2020 on zReportage.com: ‘ONLY THE BRAVE: Wildfire Hotshots’ zReportage #756 by ZUMA Press Photographer Paul Kuroda, a Pulitzer finalist and NPPA photographer of the year winner. Kuroda specializes in covering wildfires with unique access including ride-alongs with fire crews on the ground. Wildfires in California continue to burn, ravaging entire communities and the blazes will soon hit a tragic milestone: 4 million acres burned. The unprecedented fire season has already killed 30 people, burned down thousands of buildings and homes and forced more than 96,000 residents to evacuate. While wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year. Climate change is considered a key driver of this trend. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire. Federal Hotshot hand crews are like the special forces of fighting wildfires. Welcome to: ‘ONLY THE BRAVE: Wildfire Hotshots’
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, ZUMA Press
ZUMAland.com 