‘Good Morning America’: Ginger Zee Worked From a Perilous Location This Week

Ginger Zee’s work as Good Morning America‘s resident meteorologist took her to a dangerous location this week. As she chronicled on Instagram, Zee traveled to Mariposa County in California, where a raging Oak fire has been burning. The fire has been called California’s first and “most destructive” of the year.

Zee first showcased the remnants of one of the houses destroyed by the fire. She appeared on Good Morning America from the ashes of a newlywed couple’s home. In her caption, she noted that all that remained of their home was a scorched washer and dryer, a metal file cabinet, and a chimney. Zee wrote, “In less than 3 days the Oak Fire took this home and 10 others — and is still swallowing these hills swiftly this morning.”

The meteorologist continued her coverage in Mariposa County throughout the week. Although, Zee noted that the situation at hand did present some problems as they attempted to film the morning show. In one post, she shared that they had to move from their initial location because the “air quality was over 500 (highest in hazardous).” She continued, “#OakFire has burned more than 17k acres, 21 structures including homes. The fire behavior was better yesterday so that helped firefighters get 16% contained.”

As Zee referenced during her coverage, the fire, which was near Yosemite National Park, grew to more than 17,000 acres. Days later, it had burned over 19,200 acres. KCRA News reported that the Oak fire destroyed over 160 structures, mostly homes. As of Saturday, containment efforts reached over 50%, meaning that firefighter crews have been able to get a better handle on the situation. It seems as though there have been an increased number of natural disasters, such as this one, over the years. According to climate scientist Karen McKinnon, who studies this topic at the University of California, Los Angeles, the world is seeing an additional number of “large-scale anomalies” due to climate change. 

“Most evidence pointed to the extreme 120F temperatures in the Pacific north-west last year as being largely a freak event,” she told The Guardian. “But if we see it again, that’s a huge signal that something about the underlying physics of the system is changing. If you see two freak events in a row, then you know you need to re-examine your conceptual system.”