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NEW YORK: Unprecedented wildfires in Oregon have destroyed five small towns and a record number of deaths are feared, Gov. Kate Brown said on Wednesday (September 9), when families began reporting casualties.
Winds of up to 80 km / h sent flames tens of kilometers in a matter of hours, burning hundreds of homes as firefighters battled at least 35 large fires in an area of Oregon nearly twice the size of New York City.
Multiple fires burned in northern Washington state as the Pacific Northwest faced the brunt of nearly 100 wildfires across the western U.S. In California, authorities said 64,000 people had been evacuated from their homes when 28 Major fires hit America’s most populous state.
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In California, evacuations were ordered for a wide area around a massive 200,000-acre wildfire north of Sacramento. Residents of more than a dozen towns, including the city of Oroville, were asked to evacuate immediately or to be prepared to do so. The fire tore dangerously close to the town of Paradise, which was ravaged in 2018 by a wildfire, killing 85 people.
In Oregon, the Detroit community in the Santiam Valley, as well as Blue River and Vida in coastal Lane County, and Phoenix and Talent in southern Oregon were substantially destroyed, Brown said at a news conference.
Thick smoke is seen over the city of Salem, Oregon, on September 8, 2020, in this image taken from social media. (Photo: Zak Stone / via REUTERS)
“This could be the largest loss of human life and property due to wildfires in our state’s history,” Brown said without providing details.
Brown spoke of rescuers saving people by pulling them out of rivers where they take refuge from the flames.
“DRIVING THROUGH HELL”
A 12-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed in a wildfire near the Lyons community in Santiam Valley, about 50 miles south of Portland, KOIN News reported. In Washington state, a one-year-old boy died and his parents were badly burned while fleeing a fire in Okanogan County, police said.
Firefighters pulled out of the wildfires in Oregon when officials gave residents evacuation orders to “go now,” meaning they only had a few minutes to leave their homes.
“It was like driving through hell,” Jody Evans told local television station NewsChannel21 after a midnight evacuation from Detroit, about 50 miles west of Salem.
A burned-out house is seen after the Holiday Farm fire in McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, on September 9, 2020 (Photo: AFP / Tyee Burwell)
To the south, parts of Medford, a popular retreat with more than 80,000 residents, were under evacuation orders or warnings when a growing wildfire closed a section of Interstate 5, the main north-south highway in the west.
As the fire moved north toward Medford, it severely damaged Talent with about 6,000 residents and Phoenix with about 5,000, according to local police.
The fire is so far suspected of causing one death north of Ashland, said Rich Tyler, a spokesman for the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
Brown saw no respite from the hot and windy weather and requested a federal emergency declaration for the state.
“Absolutely no part of the state is free of fire,” said Doug Graf, chief of fire protection for the Oregon Department of Forestry.
EXTREME WEATHER
Climate scientists blame global warming for extreme dry and wet seasons in the western US that have caused grasses and shrubs to bloom and then dry out, leaving plenty of fuel for fires.
In California, all 18 National Forests were closed due to “unprecedented and historic fire conditions.”
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In the north of the state, tens of thousands of people were told to be ready to evacuate around Oroville, about 50 miles north of Sacramento, as “devil” winds sparked nearby wildfires.
To the south, the Creek Fire, about 35 miles north of Fresno, cut through the Sierra National Forest, which was susceptible to drought and bark beetle damage, destroying more than 360 homes and structures.
“This fire is burning at explosive speed,” said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California State Fire Authority. “If you add the winds, the dry conditions, the high temperatures, it’s the perfect recipe.”
Seventeen new large fires were reported in the west Wednesday, bringing the total to 96. More than 3.4 million acres, an area almost the size of the US state of Connecticut, have burned.
