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It was impossible to count the true scale of destruction across vast swathes of California, Oregon, and Washington cut off from the world by an apocalyptic wall of flame, fueled by record heat waves and intense, dry winds.
A Coulson 737 firefighting tanker drops fire retardant to slow the Bobcat Fire atop a major run on a mountain in the Angeles National Forest on September 10, 2020 north of Monrovia, California. Image: AFP
CLOVIS – Firefighters battled unprecedented wildfires across the U.S. West Coast on Friday that killed 15 people and forced more than half a million to flee their homes, with authorities warning of more deaths in the coming days.
It was impossible to count the true scale of destruction across vast swathes of California, Oregon, and Washington cut off from the world by an apocalyptic wall of flame, fueled by record heat waves and intense, dry winds.
The August complex fire became the largest fire on record in California history on Thursday, after multiple fires in the northwest of the state combined under high temperatures and winds to obliterate 746,000 acres of dry vegetation.
So far, more than 2.6 million acres have been burned across the state, a Cal Fire spokesman said Thursday night.
Half a million people have been evacuated in neighboring Oregon, where the government said firefighters were “prioritizing life (and) safety as they fight a record 900,000 acres of wildfires.”
Gov. Kate Brown said the amount of land incinerated by the fires in just the past 72 hours was double the state’s annual average and that at least five cities had been “substantially destroyed.”
“We have never seen this amount of unstoppable fire in our entire state,” he told a news conference.
Huge wildfires are becoming more common, and the World Meteorological Organization says the five years to 2019 were “unprecedented” for the fires, especially in Europe and North America.
Climate change amplifies droughts that dry up regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread uncontrollably and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.
‘LEAVE YOUR HOUSE’
Local Oregon officials confirmed two deaths in the Santiam Canyon region south of Portland, and a third in the Ashland area, near the California border.
Police went door-to-door to make sure residents were evacuating the city of Molalla, marking their entrances with spray paint to show they had left.
“It’s one thing to get out of the house, it’s another to be told you have to go,” said Denise Pentz, a resident of the town for 11 years, who was loading her family belongings in a camping trailer.
Among those killed last day was a one-year-old boy who died while his parents suffered severe burns as they tried to flee from hell 130 miles east of Seattle.
“This child’s family and community will never be the same again,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement about his state’s first fire death in 2020.
‘BRIGHT RED’
Police said the death toll had risen to 10 in Northern California’s Butte County on Thursday.
“We are required to report that our agents and detectives today located seven additional deceased persons,” said Butte County Sheriff’s Capt. Derek Bell.
An unidentified person died in far north California, near the remote rural community of Happy Camp, a Cal Fire spokeswoman told AFP.
Tina Rose, 29, fled her home in central California after witnessing a nearby mountain “blazing red” from impending wildfires.
“It’s something we never want to experience again,” he told AFP from his brother-in-law’s crowded home near Fresno.
In the San Francisco area, Wednesday’s intense orange sky caused by wildfire smoke gave way to winter gray, but cars were still forced to drive with their headlights on in the twilight.
The polluted air meant that schools and daycare centers no longer allowed children to play outside, while older people were encouraged to stay indoors.
But the strong, dry winds of the past few days subsided across much of the state, and severe weather advisories were removed for most of California.
Humidity is expected to rise as temperatures cool into next week, providing some relief, Cal Fire said.
CLIMATE CHANGE BLAME
Much of the smoke has come down from the north, where the Bear Fire erupted at an unprecedented rate this week, combining with older fires to threaten the city of Oroville.
Evacuation warnings have spread to parts of the city of Paradise, the site of California’s deadliest modern fire, which killed 86 people less than two years ago.
California has seen more than 3.1 million acres burn this year, an annual record, with nearly four months of fire season to come.
Governor Gavin Newsom blamed climate change for the ferocity of this year’s fires.
“We must do more,” he tweeted. “We need action at ALL levels. CA cannot do this alone. Climate change is REAL.”
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