At least 15 people have died in wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington

(CNN) – Authorities found seven bodies in Northern California Thursday as firefighters battled several devastating wildfires, bringing the total death toll in the state to 10.

At least five other people have died in Washington state and Oregon this week amid a series of wildfires out of control.

The deadly and fast-moving wildfires that ravaged several West Coast states Thursday forced about 500,000 people in Oregon to flee their homes, state officials said.

The Oregon Office of Emergency Management estimates that about half a million people, more than 10 percent of the state’s population, according to the Census Bureau, have been evacuated and “that number continues to grow.”

Thick smoke has covered the region and some southern Oregon communities have already burned to the ground.

Firefighters from across the United States were called in to help contain the massive fires. As of Thursday, more than 100 wildfires in 12 western states burned more than 4.3 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That’s almost 7,000 square miles, or about the size of New Jersey.

One of the fires, the August Complex fire in Northern California, is now considered the largest in the state’s recorded history, according to Cal Fire. It has consumed 471,185 acres and has only been 24% contained since it was triggered by a thunderstorm on August 17.

While the full extent of the damage remains unclear in many communities, wildfires have taken a toll in human lives.

A child in Washington state was killed in the Cold Springs fire, authorities said Wednesday. Two of the boy’s relatives were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where both are in critical condition and are being treated by burn specialists, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Live updates on wildfires

In Oregon, three people died in Marion County and one in Jackson County.

“We also fear that these will not be the only people we will find deceased there,” said Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast.

In California, authorities said they are working to recover the remains of three people who died in Butte County, about 80 miles north of Sacramento, at the North Complex Fire.

“It was terrifying,” resident Nancy Hamilton told CNN of the fires that swept through the Berry Creek area. “It was a beast. The thing is a beast.”

Hamilton, a filmmaker, drove through the area Wednesday to get a closer look at the destruction. He says it is currently home to several families who were forced to evacuate their homes, including his best friend’s 80-year-old grandmother, whose home was engulfed in flames.

“They are quite devastated,” Hamilton said. “She just lost everything.”

“I was able to take pictures of her, so at least she knows they are gone,” he said. “Many people don’t know that their houses are gone and they wonder.”

California

More than 14,000 firefighters fight 28 fires throughout the Golden State, according to the California Department of Fire Protection and Forestry.

The North Complex fire has consumed more than 250,000 acres and was 24% contained as of Thursday morning.

In the mountains of central California, the Creek Fire has destroyed more than 360 structures, fire officials said. It has now grown to over 166,000 acres and remains 0% contained.

About 30,000 people were evacuated due to the fire, which burns northwest of Fresno. But returning residents to their homes will likely be a long process, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. Brandon Pursell said Wednesday.

“It’ll probably be a couple of weeks, just bear with us,” Pursell said.

Toby Wait and his family fled the fires over the weekend. “I went to my deck and looked outside, and there was only orange flowing down the hills,” Wait, a Big Creek resident, told CNN.

His home is one of dozens that have been lost to the Creek fire. Now the family is sheltering with Wait’s parents in Hanford and other family members in Fresno.

“We have taken refuge here. We are nomads right now,” he said. “We have our duffel bags and when we run out of welcome, we move on to the next house.”

Firefighters issued evacuation orders and warnings in various parts of the state, including Southern California, where the El Dorado fire continues to burn parts of San Bernardino County and is 18% contained. In San Diego County, the Valley Fire, which has burned more than 17,000 acres, also prompted multiple evacuation orders and warnings.

On Wednesday, all 18 national forests in the state were ordered closed due to “explosive growth” from wildfires, a notice from forest service officials said. Those temporary closures cover more than 20 million acres of land.

“The number of large fires and extreme fire behavior that we are seeing across the state is historic,” said Regional Forester Randy Moore. “I ask all Californians and visitors to take these closures and evacuations seriously for their own safety.”

Across the state, more than 2.5 million acres have burned this year alone, according to Cal Fire, and Governor Gavin Newsom has singled out climate change as a leading factor in wildfires.

At this time last year, California saw 4,927 fires that burned 118,000 acres, according to the governor. In 2020, there have been 7,606 fires so far.

“Wildfires are a big part of the seasonal challenge,” Newsom said. “The challenge we are facing now is extreme fires that we believe are weather-induced.”

Kevin McKay moved to Chico after losing his Paradise home to Camp Fire in 2018, the most destructive wildfire in state history.

The smoke has been bad for a couple of weeks, he told CNN. Then on Wednesday morning, he woke up to the smoke-blackened skies and ash from the North Complex Fire covering everything, he said.

“It’s puzzling, to say the least,” he said.

McKay said he doesn’t feel like he’s in direct danger this time, but friends and family who have been affected by the recent fires have asked for his help and advice.

“Since 2018, it has been a march to rebuild life,” he told CNN on Thursday. “We’ve had Covid now, and there is social discourse and unrest across the nation. And then the fire returns and there is a lot of anxiety that I didn’t know was there.”

“There is this kind of relentless punishment that just keeps coming,” he said. “To rationalize it, all I can say is that Mother Earth is definitely fighting here.”

Oregon

Authorities declared a state of emergency in Portland Thursday night, closing city parks and activating evacuation sites for people displaced by the threat of fires.

The emergency order, signed by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, says the city has “limited firefighting resources available” and many resources “are currently deployed to assist with firefighting efforts in other parts of the state. “.

Numerous wildfires in Oregon continued to burn without containment Thursday after nearly devastating the southern cities of Phoenix and Talent.

Thirty-seven wildfires remain active, up from nearly 50 earlier this week, as 900,000 acres have been consumed statewide, the Oregon office of emergency management said.

“We have never seen this amount of uncontrollable fire in our entire state,” Gov. Kate Brown said at a news conference Thursday. She said that between 30,000 and 40,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes.

The extent of wildfires is unprecedented. Over the past ten years, the governor said, the state has seen an average of 500,000 acres burned each year.

Among those affected by the fire is Denise Moyle, who told CNN affiliate KATU that her family’s home in Lyons was destroyed by the Santiam Fire, originally called the Beachie Creek Fire, in Linn County, roughly 70 miles south of Portland.

Moyle’s family escaped early Monday after a phone call from a concerned neighbor. “We left without thinking we weren’t going to have a house, so we left without much,” Moyle told the news station.

The family found the smoking remains of their home when they returned Wednesday morning. After examining what was left, they were able to recover only a few small items, Moyle said.

“I don’t know where my family is going,” Moyle told KATU.

Firefighters initially thought the fire would likely grow to less than 500 acres, but a “historic” windstorm on Monday fanned the flames and the blaze grew to more than 131,000 acres in one night. The fire has now burned more than 158,000 acres and is 0% contained.

According to the United States Forest Service, the fire has been fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. It has been “fueled by a series of small fires caused in large part by downed power lines and other ignition sources throughout the area,” the US Forest Service said.

Washington

Wildfires have erupted in Washington in recent days, claiming the life of a child and leaving parts of the state with poor air quality.

Gov. Jay Inslee described the fires as “cataclysmic” as he toured the massive damage in the city of Rosalina Thursday.

“This is a place where the whole heart of a city was ripped out,” Inslee told reporters.

In the past three days, wildfires have burned about 600,000 acres, which is more than in almost “any year in the state’s history,” the governor said.

“The enormity of these fires, the geographic scope, intensity and destruction are uneven in the history of Washington state,” Inslee said.

The Sumner Grade Fire, outside Tacoma, Washington, burned several homes and prompted hundreds of evacuations, CNN affiliate KOMO reported. By Wednesday, it was about 20% contained, the news station reported.

“In western Washington, the old rule of thumb used to be that if it was 20% it would go off track because erratic fire behavior was expected,” East Pierce Fire Chief Bud Backer said, according to the station. “But with the houses on the road, we didn’t have that luxury.”

Backer says he was there when the fire broke out Monday, the affiliate said.

“When it hit, it was like a blowtorch.”

People have started to return to their homes in Graham, Washington, where several houses were destroyed by a fire caused by a tree falling on a power line, CNN affiliate KIRO reported. One resident, Darrell Herde, said he barely escaped from his home after he woke up Monday night when a stranger knocked on his door.

“He was knocking on my door and telling me to run. I thought he was a little crazy. I didn’t think it was that bad,” Herde said.

“Five minutes later, I was out the door. He was crawling through the trees,” the 71-year-old said. “And you can’t believe how fast those embers were flying towards you.”

He found a pile of rubble in his house. Now you just have to put your clothes on your back.

“Somewhere in that pile, there are my mother’s rings, and she tore my heart out,” he said. “That’s something that killed me this morning. The rest of these things are things you can replace.”

This story was first published on CNN.com, “At least 15 people have died in wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington.”