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GATES, Oregon – Intermittent heavy rains brought some relief to flame-ravaged western Oregon on Friday (Sept. 18), helping firefighters further control the deadly fires that have devastated much of the state and choked its smoky air for the better part of two weeks. .
Oregon was hit especially hard by dozens of wind-driven wildfires that erupted all at once in the western United States earlier this month amid catastrophic thunderstorms, unprecedented heat and howling winds.
“We lost everything, but we’ll start over,” said Bill Kesselring, 73, pointing to the location of the log cabin he shared with his wife outside of Gates, Oregon, a Cascade Mountain town about 80 miles north. south. from Portland.
READ: Thousands of Oregon evacuees take refuge from wildfires under smoky skies
The cabin and a garage that housed a beloved vintage car that Kesselring had just finished restoring were reduced to charred rubble. Only the fireplace and the chimney remained of the house.
“It breaks my heart. You work hard all your life and then you get hit by a disaster like this,” he told Reuters.
Unaccustomed to the scope and magnitude of the conflagrations, Oregon’s ill-equipped firefighters initially struggled for days to keep up with the flames, before colder, wetter, and less windy weather settled in the region and reinforcements could arrive. .
ANOTHER LIFE LOST IN CALIFORNIA
By Thursday, officials in Oregon, Washington state and California said they were making steady progress on suppressing the fires. Further improving the outlook, very welcome rains soaked Oregon on Friday, even as the death toll in three states from the fires rose to 35.
The US Forest Service in California reported that a firefighter had died Thursday in a fire that was still burning nearly two weeks after it was lit by pyrotechnics at an outdoor gender reveal party east of Los Angeles.
Authorities withheld the identification of the downed firefighter pending notification of family members, and details of the circumstances were not released.
READ: Thousands of Firefighters Fight West Coast Wildfires Amid ‘Overwhelming’ Ruin
The death in the San Bernardino National Forest became the 16th fire-related death in California in the past month. That count includes two other firefighters: a Forest Service contractor who died in a lightning fire in the Mendocino National Forest and a private helicopter pilot whose helicopter crashed on a water fall mission in Fresno County. last month.
Wildfires have claimed at least eight other lives in Oregon and one in Washington state, all civilians.
The flames have blackened a record 1.3 million hectares in California alone since mid-August. Another 650,000 hectares have been burned in the states of Oregon and Washington since Labor Day.
The fires, described by scientists and officials as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, have largely incinerated several small towns, along with thousands of homes.
READ: Smog blankets the west coast of the US as deadly wildfires rage
“SCAR OF BEAUTY”
Thousands of evacuees, particularly in Oregon, remained crammed into emergency shelters, mobile trailers and hotel rooms. And Oregon emergency management officials warned that the death toll there could rise as search teams scour the ruins of burning homes during chaotic evacuations at the start of the disaster.
Justin Gaskill, 28, a U.S. Army veteran who leads a community watchdog organization that was also organizing food relief efforts, said residents of the fire-ravaged town of Estacada, Oregon, where he was born and grew up, they were still in shock, but determined to rebuild.
“I like to say that this event will leave our community with a scar of beauty,” he said. “We have been injured, but many beautiful opportunities to share and show our strength as a people are emerging from this.”
READ: Search for bodies on charred road from wildfires, Trump to visit California
The thunder brought torrential rain to the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains Thursday night and through Friday, helping a force of more than 6,000 firefighters advance further against 10 major fires still burning in Oregon.
Heavy rains also prompted warnings for floods and landslides in areas where fire has stripped slopes and canyons of vegetation.
The cooler and more favorable weather in the region since last week has already dissipated some of the smoky and polluted air and tempered the flames, allowing ground crews with axes and excavators to take the offensive while at the same time allowing more use of water-launching helicopters and tankers. .
Higher humidity levels were also bolstering hopes of dousing the flames in the San Francisco Bay area.
“The milder weather is helping to suppress fires as crews continue to gain traction in many of the major incidents,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday.
