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- The fire has destroyed more than 700,000 acres.
- Half a million people have been evacuated.
- At least five villages have been destroyed in the wave of hells.
More than 20,000 firefighters across the United States battled deadly wildfires on the West Coast on Friday, a wave of hells that has forced more than half a million people to flee their homes.
The true scale of destruction was difficult to measure, with 16 confirmed deaths so far this week as large swaths of California, Oregon and Washington remain cut off by flames.
The largest fire in California history, the August complex fire, has wiped out 746,000 acres (302,000 hectares) of dry vegetation in the north of the state, due to the combination of multiple fires under high temperatures and strong dry winds. .
But it’s just one of about 100 large fires on the US West Coast, and other fast-growing fires closer to populated areas have proven more deadly.
So far, 10 people have been confirmed dead in Butte County, Northern California.
“We are completely speechless at this point,” Bobbie Zedaker told the San Francisco Chronicle, after DNA testing showed her missing 16-year-old nephew Josiah Williams was among the dead.
Two more people died near the rural community of Happy Camp, a Cal Fire spokeswoman told AFP.
In neighboring Oregon, half a million people have been evacuated.
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Two massive conflagrations threatened to merge south of Portland in Clackamas County, where a 10 p.m. curfew was announced for all non-emergency workers to clear roads for patrol and evacuation efforts.
The mayor of Portland declared a state of emergency Thursday night.
Gov. Kate Brown said the area burned in just 72 hours was twice 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 said the five years to 2019 were unprecedented for 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.
‘Get out of your house’
Oregon officials confirmed two deaths in the Santiam Canyon region south of Portland, and a third 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.
In Washington state, a one-year-old boy died while his parents were badly burned while trying to flee from hell 130 miles east of Seattle.
“This child’s family and community will never be the same again,” said Governor Jay Inslee.
‘Bright red’
Winds that sparked blazes earlier in the week have died down across much of California, and severe weather warnings were lifted for most of the state on Friday.
Humidity is expected to rise as temperatures cool into next week, providing some relief, Cal Fire said.
But California has already seen more than 3.1 million acres burn this year, an annual record, larger than the entire state of Connecticut, with nearly four months of fire season to come.
Tina Rose, 29, who fled her home in central California, described witnessing a nearby mountain “bright red” from looming wildfires.
“It’s something we never want to experience again,” he told AFP from his brother-in-law’s crowded home near Fresno.
Eight more people died in the California wildfires last month.
