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At least 29 people were reportedly killed in the wildfires that ravaged the west coast of the United States for weeks. NBC reported 20 confirmed deaths in the state of California since mid-August, eight in Oregon and one in Washington. Dozens of people were also reported missing in the three states along the coast, and more deaths are feared.
Tens of thousands of people have already had to leave their homes to flee the flames, and in Oregon alone hundreds of thousands depend on at least preparing for an evacuation. According to the “New York Times”, an area equivalent to about 20,200 square kilometers of forest had caught fire in recent weeks.
Tens of thousands of firefighters continued to fight the wildfires on Saturday and the situation stabilized somewhat in some places. In the state of Oregon, evacuation warning levels have been relaxed in some areas, according to The Oregonian newspaper. There and in California, authorities expected a relaxation through favorable winds and possible rain.
US President Donald Trump wants to be personally briefed on the California wildfires for the first time on Monday. Trump will visit McClellan Park, a settlement north of Sacramento in the center of the state, spokesman Judd Deere confirmed for the German news agency on Saturday. He will participate in a meeting with regional and federal forces. Trump had planned election campaign dates in the neighboring state of Nevada for the weekend and the beginning of the week, according to US media an appointment was also planned in Arizona on Monday.
“My heart breaks for my wonderful condition,” Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley wrote on Twitter with photos of burning houses on Saturday. “This is the devastation I see today, left behind by these never-before-seen wildfires. Streets of houses and businesses, hopes and dreams, history and future, all decimated.”
Fires are closing in on Portland
This year, according to the “New York Times,” Oregon soils in particular in the northwestern part of the state were parched from a severe drought, meaning the fires also spread to regions not normally affected by fires. In Oregon, Saturday’s fires also broke out near the city of Portland. According to the IQAir database, it was the city with the highest air pollution in the world. Doctors also reported on CNN that air quality in many cities had reached a level that was detrimental to health.
Wildfires are raging in a dozen states in the western United States, including Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado and Idaho, according to the federal agency’s National Interagency Fire Center. According to the authority, around 29,000 firefighters and other emergency services are fighting the flames throughout the affected region.
“We are in a climate crisis,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday during a visit to the burned forests near the village of Oroville. Many scientists would have predicted this development years ago.
Scientists believe the climate crisis will exacerbate drought, heat, and extremes of weather that contribute to more violent wildfires. Six of the current fires are already among the 20 largest in California history since records began in 1930.
