why planes can’t fight shasta’s deadly carr fire
Inmate firefighters battle the Carr Fire southwest of Redding, Calif., Sunday, July 29, 2018. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

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Why planes can’t fight Shasta’s deadly Carr Fire

A heavy layer of smoke, called an inversion, is covering and making the ground invisible to fire fighting aircraft. Because Sacramento Valley “is a bowl, surrounded on three sides by mountains. It is only open to the south… The air is stagnant at the top, the north end, of the valley,” said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain. Without visibility, the fire fighting aircraft cannot navigate through the smoke and fly safely.