Western wildfires in California and Oregon grow deadlier, prompting mass evacuations

A Northern California wildfire that destroyed a mountain-foot village has become the state’s deadliest fire of the year, with 10 people confirmed dead, and the death toll could rise as prospectors search 16 missing people. Deadly fires in densely populated northwest Oregon were growing, with hundreds of thousands of people being told to flee the invading flames as residents of the south tearfully evaluated their losses.

Authorities said more than 500,000 people, more than 10% of Oregon’s population, have been forced to evacuate, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management reported Thursday night.

The death toll from wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington state was at least 16 early Friday: one in Washington, four in Oregon and 11 in California.

The Northern California Complex Fire, which exploded into wind-driven flames earlier in the week, was progressing more slowly Friday after winds died down and smoke from the fire shaded the area and lowered temperatures, allowing the firefighters advance, authorities said.

However, the smoke reduced visibility and fire helicopters were unable to fly Thursday.

The North Complex Fire was formerly known as Bear Fire.

As of Thursday night, the North Complex Fire had grown to 65,295 acres and was at zero containment, reports CBS San Francisco.

In most of the state, red flag warnings of extreme fire danger were raised due to hot, dry weather or gusty winds.

Just a day or two earlier, the North Complex fire raged through the Sierra Nevada foothills so quickly that firefighters were almost engulfed, locals fled for their lives to a pond and the town of Berry Creek with a population of 525 inhabitants, it was destroyed.

Butte County Sheriff’s Capt. Derek Bell said on Thursday seven bodies were discovered, bringing the total to 10 in two days. At least four people with severe burns were hospitalized.

Agents and detectives searched for human remains as they headed to devastated areas with a team of anthropologists from Chico State University, Bell said.

Burned and overturned cars, downed power lines and building debris littered Berry Creek and nearby areas, the Sacramento Bee reported.

More than 2,000 homes and other buildings caught fire in the blaze, which began several weeks ago as a collection of lightning fires northeast of San Francisco. The final toll is expected to be much higher. Damage assessment teams planned to begin a methodical search of the burned areas on Friday.

The speed and ferocity of the fire astonished observers, even those who remembered a blaze just two years earlier that killed about 85 people and devastated the town of Paradise, just a few miles from the current blaze.

Residents jammed the main highway outside the city Wednesday amid ash and red skies. Authorities lifted an evacuation warning for Paradise on Thursday, but authorities urged people to remain vigilant.

CBS Sacramento says it was the first evacuation order in Paradise from Camp Fire.

A firefighting team was engulfed in flames Wednesday when the winds changed and its members escaped with only minor injuries after deploying emergency shelters. It was the second time in two days that California firefighters had to make a desperate effort to save their lives.

The fire is among 29 major wildfires that occur from the Oregon border to northern Mexico. More than 4,800 square miles have burned so far this year, more land than Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington, DC combined, and fall is typically the worst fire season. Nineteen people died and at least 4,000 structures were burned across California.

“It’s a historic season as well as a historic season that replaced a historic season. We continue to set new precedents and then we continue to destroy them,” said Sean Norman, battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The smoke entered the vineyards of the wine country north of San Francisco and rose over the scenic Big Sur on the central coast and in the hills and mountains of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties in the southern part of the state.

Oregon, Washington hit hard

Neighbors Oregon and Washington have also been besieged.

More than 1,400 square miles have burned this week in Oregon, where hot and windy conditions continued.

Wildfires have devastated nearly 937 square miles in Washington.

A fire approached Molalla, Oregon, prompting a mandatory evacuation order for the community of about 9,000 people located 30 miles south of Portland. A police car was driving through the streets with a loud speaker that said “evacuate now.”

The inmates were moved from a women’s prison less than a mile off Interstate 5 in Portland’s southern suburbs “as a precaution,” the Oregon Department of Corrections said.

With two large fires threatening to merge, some firefighters in Clackamas County, which includes Molalla, have been told to temporarily withdraw due to the danger. Officials tried to reassure residents who left their homes, and law enforcement officials said patrols would be intensified to prevent looting.

Meanwhile, residents of the small town of Phoenix in Oregon, near the California state line along Interstate 5, endured a scene of devastation after one of the state’s many wildfires destroyed much of their community. A mobile home park, houses and businesses were burned, leaving twisted remains on the charred ground.

Many of the residents were immigrants, with few resources to turn to.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimated that 600 homes were burned in the fire that started in Ashland and swept through Phoenix, the Medford Mail Tribune reported.

Oregon officials have not released an exact count of deaths from the wildfires, but at least four deaths have been reported in the state. One person died in wildfires in Washington.

Oregon officials were surprised by the number of simultaneous fires, which stood at 37 on Thursday, according to the state’s Office of Emergency Management.