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From the Mexican to the Canadian border: All three states on the US West Coast are now battling wildfires, some of them massive. The northwest of the country is not actually a wildfire zone.
In addition to California, massive bushfires and wildfires now also affect Oregon and Washington. The affected areas range from areas on the Canadian border to the southern tip of California on the Mexican border.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown said hundreds of homes were destroyed there alone. Initially there were no reports of deaths. But she warned that today’s fires could destroy more lives and homes than a fire in Oregon history.
Otherwise, almost never wildfires in the northwestern United States.
Due to its colder and wetter climate, the Pacific Northwest rarely experiences fires as extreme as it does today, and if so, more so in the south or east. This time, however, the area around the Portland metropolis is also affected. Brown spoke of an unprecedented situation.
The fires were fueled by gusts of wind at speeds of 80 and sometimes even 120 kilometers per hour. 16,000 people have been told to leave their homes since Tuesday. Three prisons were also evacuated.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee also described the extent of the fires as “unprecedented and heartbreaking.”
8,000 square kilometers destroyed in California
At least eight deaths were recorded in California as of Wednesday from the fires that have raged for weeks. The flames have already destroyed a record area of more than 8,000 square kilometers. The so-called Bear Fire recently spread at breakneck speed around 150 miles north of San Francisco. It was combined with older fires and threatened the city of Oroville.
San Francisco and other regions of California woke up to an orange glow Wednesday. It was created by smoke from the fires, which mixed with the fog and blocked the sunlight; this created a surreal looking scene.
More than 170,000 homes in California were without power because utility company PG&E shut down the power grid in much of the state due to extreme wildfire risk. According to the fire department, more than 3,000 buildings in California have been destroyed by the fire.
Wildfires and brush fires have risen sharply in California in recent years, which is why experts believe global warming is partly responsible. In November 2018, 86 people died in the upstate in the most momentous wildfire in California history.
