Wildfires are still raging in the West

Wildfire season continues in California; Muslims call for a boycott of French products. Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg. TOP NEWS More fire danger in California as 100,000 are ordered to evacuate Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images - More than 100,000 people in Southern California were ordered to evacuate as another round of wildfires has swept into the area, compounding the most devastating fire season in the state’s history. The Silverado Fire and Blue Ridge Fire are both burning in Orange County. [[CNN / Madeline Holcombe](] - The Silverado Fire broke out Monday, jumping a highway and ballooning to 4,000 acres. Firefighters said 20,000 homes in Irvine, 40 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, have been evacuated. [[The Guardian / Vivian Ho](] - Southern California Edison said its equipment may be responsible for the blaze, which so far has not been contained. SCE shut off power to roughly 38,000 homes and businesses in five counties as a safety precaution, then reduced that number Monday night as winds eased. [[AP / Christopher Weber and Olga L. Rodriguez](] - This would not be the first time SCE’s equipment contributed to a major fire this year. SCE filed a report in September saying its equipment might have caused the Bobcat Fire, which burned more than 115,000 acres near Pasadena. [[NYT / Ana Facio-Krajcer, Will Wright, and Johnny Diaz](] - The Santa Ana winds, which blow hot, dry air from the desert toward the Pacific Ocean, have hastened the fires’ spread. Santa Ana winds are frequent in October and November, and combined with a lack of rain, they can cause ideal conditions for wildfires. [[Washington Post / Andrew Freedman and Diana Leonard](] - The Blue Ridge Fire is burning farther east, and as of Tuesday morning it had burned more than 12 square miles with no containment. No structures have been reported lost in either of the two blazes, but 10 homes have been damaged by the Blue Ridge Fire. [[USA Today / Chris Woodyard](] - “We’re experiencing very high winds and very low humidity,” Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said in a press conference. “Our firefighters are some of the bravest — the bravest in the world. This is a very hazardous job.” [[Newsweek / Jade Bremner](] - Part of the reason that fires on the US West Coast have worsened so much in recent years is because of the decline in controlled burns — a practice with a long history among Native Americans that significantly reduces the risk of large, uncontrolled fires. [[Vox / Umair Irfan](] - Five of California’s six largest fires since 1932 have taken place this year. More than 4.25 million acres have been burned and more than 9,000 buildings destroyed in 8,500 fires across the state in 2020, costing California more than $1.8 billion, according to data from Cal Fire. [[Los Angeles Times / Priya Krishnakumar and Swetha Kanan](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Muslims call for boycott of French goods to protest caricatures of Muhammad - Muslims in the Middle East and around the world advocated for a boycott of French goods on Monday, after the beheading this month of a French teacher who had shown caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in class. [[AP / Aya Batrawy](] - In Istanbul, a child held a photograph of French President Emmanuel Macron with a shoe mark stamped on his face. A hypermarket chain in Kuwait said several of its outlets plan to boycott French products, and some grocery stores in Jordan declared they would not sell French goods. [[CNN / Mostafa Salem, Pierre Bairin, Chris Liakos, Nadine Schmidt, and Sarah Dean](] - France’s foreign ministry demanded that the calls for a boycott come to an end, saying the protests were “occasionally hateful … pointless and must cease immediately, as must all attacks against our country, instrumentalized by a radical minority.” [[The Guardian / Kim Willsher](] - Depictions of Muhammad are widely regarded as offensive and disrespectful to Muslims, and Turkey is leading the charge against French goods that could put pressure on French companies. Other European countries have expressed support for France. [[AP / Samuel Petrequin](] MISCELLANEOUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett was officially sworn in to the Supreme Court, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority. [[CNBC / Tucker Higgins](] - Covid-19 deaths are once again on the rise in the US. Cases have been surging for the last few weeks, and now the death toll is beginning to spike again. The confirmed death toll in the US is more than 226,000. [[CBS News / Sarah Lynch {NAME}](] - At least seven people have died and more than 120 are injured in Pakistan after a bomb went off at a religious school in Peshawar, a city in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. [[CNN / Sophia Saifi and Zahid Shah Sherazi](] - India has signed a defensive agreement with the US following an ongoing standoff in the Himalayan mountains with China. “Big things are happening as our democracies align to better protect the citizens of our two countries and indeed, of the free world,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. [[NPR / Lauren Frayer](] - Scientists reported Monday that the moon may hold water in more places and larger amounts than had previously been believed. [[AP / Marcia Dunn](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( VERBATIM "I am calling on the people, do not go near French goods, do not buy them. European leaders must say 'stop' to Macron and his campaign of hatred." [[Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Muslim boycott of French products](] LISTEN TO THIS In the third of our five-part series, Vox’s Andrew Prokop says there’s one key takeaway from the Mueller investigation and impeachment: Trump will do anything to win an election. [[Spotify / Andrew Prokop](] [Read more from Vox](#) [States need billions to prepare for Covid-19 vaccines. The federal government isn’t helping.]( [To compete with China and Russia, America needs a new era of multilateralism]( [Democrats want to turn Texas blue. It starts with the state House in 2020.]( [Why North and South Dakota are suffering the worst Covid-19 epidemics in the US]( [The Philadelphia police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., explained]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. 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