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FRESNO, California: The deadly wildfires that swept through Oregon kept half a million people on evacuation alert on Friday (Sept. 11), even as weary firefighters took advantage of the improving weather to go on the offensive against the flames.
The fires have destroyed thousands of homes in days, making Oregon the latest epicenter of a major summer wildfire outbreak that swept through the western United States, collectively burning a landscape the size of New Jersey and killing at least 25 people.
READ: Oregon fires destroy five cities, many deaths feared
At least five people died in Oregon this week. Gov. Kate Brown warned that the death toll could rise much higher, saying on Friday that dozens of people had been reported missing in three counties.
Oregon Office of Emergency Management chief Andrew Phelps said disaster teams surveying the charred ruins of half a dozen small devastated towns are preparing to find possible “mass death incidents.”
Bryan Alvarez holds a sign for oncoming traffic as utility workers repair power lines after the Obenchain fire in Eagle Point, Ore., On September 11, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Adrees Latif).
The Pacific Northwest as a whole has suffered the brunt of an arson attack that began around Labor Day, darkening the sky with smoke and ash that has plagued Northern California, Oregon and Washington with some of the worst quality levels. of the world’s air.
The firestorms, some of the largest on record in California and Oregon, were fueled by strong winds that howled across the region for days amid record heat. Scientists say that global warming has also contributed to extremes in the wet and dry seasons, causing vegetation to flourish and then dry out, leaving more abundant fuel for wildfires.
“THE PERFECT STORM”
“This is a bloody weather emergency. This is real and it is happening. This is the perfect storm,” California Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters from a charred hillside near Oroville, California.
More than 3,900 homes and other structures have been cremated in California alone in the past three weeks.
READ: Fleeing harder from California wildfires during the COVID-19 pandemic
In southern Oregon, an apocalyptic scene of charred residential subdivisions and trailer parks stretched for miles along Highway 99 south of Medford through the neighboring cities of Phoenix and Talent, one of the most devastated areas. .
Molalla, a community about 25 miles south of downtown Portland, was an ash-covered ghost town after its more than 9,000 residents were told to evacuate, and only 30 refused to leave, the fire department said. from the city.
Vehicles lie damaged as a result of the Obenchain fire at Eagle Point. (Photo: Reuters / Adrees Latif)
The lumber city was on the front line of a vast evacuation zone that stretched north as far as 3 miles from downtown Portland. The suburban Clackamas county sheriff established a 10 pm curfew to deter “a possible increase in criminal activity.”
Governor Brown told a news conference that more than 500,000 people were under one of the three evacuation alert levels, recommending they pack and be vigilant, be ready to flee at any time, or leave immediately. About 40,000 of them had already been ordered to leave.
READ: The ominous orange sky gives San Francisco an apocalyptic tint
In neighboring Washington state, online video from the Tacoma area showed fires in a residential area that set houses on fire and locals running to warn neighbors.
“Everybody out, everybody out!” a man yelled as firefighters tried to put out the flames.
BREAK THE WEATHER
After four days of treacherously hot and windy weather, a ray of hope came in the form of calmer winds blowing from the ocean, bringing cooler and wetter conditions that helped firefighters advance against the flames that had largely burned. uncontrolled early in the week.
“The weather will be favorable for us,” said Doug Grafe, chief of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry, adding that the breakdown of the weather is forecast to continue into next week.
Crystal Sparks, 35, kisses her twin sons Chance and Ryder Sutton, four, as they are evacuated by Sparks’ sister-in-law from the Obenchain fire in Butte Falls. (Photo: Reuters / Adrees Latif)
The total death toll from the western fires that started in August rose to 25 after seven people were reported to have died in the mountains north of Sacramento, California, and the fifth Oregon death was reported in Marion County, in outside of Salem, the state capital.
Paradise, a city ravaged by California’s deadliest wildfire in 2018, posted the world’s worst air quality index reading at 592, according to PurpleAir’s monitoring site, as two of the state’s largest fires burned. on Both Sides.
Local resident Tami Henderson grabs her four-year-old twin nephews Ryder and Chance Sutton as they prepare to evacuate from the Obenchain fire in Butte Falls, Oregon, USA, September 11, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Adrees Latif).
In southern Oregon, police arrested a 42-year-old man Friday for starting a fire in the city of Phoenix, the Jackson County sheriff’s office said.
The suspect named Michael Bakkela, described as a “local bystander,” has been charged with arson, criminal antics and reckless endangering, the office said in a press release.
