Oregon wildfire forces hundreds of people to leave their homes Reuters

Authors: Deborah Bloom and Sergio Olmos

Klamath Falls, Oregon (Reuters)-On Wednesday, a rapidly spreading wildfire ravaged dry wood and bushes in south-central Oregon for the ninth day, threatening nearly 2,000 homes and causing hundreds of Displaced residents, with few signs of slowing down, officials said.

According to state and federal authorities, the so-called Bootleg fire had burned more than 212,000 acres (85,793 hectares) of land by morning, destroyed 21 houses and 54 other buildings, and firefighters managed to invade around 5% of the fence.

Since its outbreak on July 6, Bootleg has easily become the largest of at least 10 active wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, in the Fremont-Vinemar National Forest about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Portland And its surroundings spread almost uncontrollably.

According to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, the flames threatened 1,926 homes as of Wednesday. Officials from the Oregon Department of Forestry said that nearly 400 of these houses have been ordered to be evacuated. There were no reports of serious injuries or deaths.

A thick layer of haze was shrouded in the Klamath Falls to the southwest, and the local open-air market became a Red Cross evacuation center.

One of the evacuees, Tim McCarley, told Reuters earlier this week that the sheriff’s deputy and the state police showed up at his home and warned him when “sparks and embers are coming down.” ‘S family: “If you don’t leave, you will die.”

“This is the first time I have a wildfire, and I want to tell you it is terrible,” said Sarah Kose, an evacuation partner. “You don’t know if you will be the one who loses the house, or if you sit there and watch your neighbor lose their house, there is nothing you can do about it.”

According to state forestry data, more than 1,300 personnel have been assigned to fight wildfires, which is the seventh largest fire on record in Oregon since 1900.

In contrast, the two wildfires in Oregon amounted to 500,000 acres or more—the long draw in 2012 and the biscuit in 2002. Records show that the other eight companies, including Bootleg, have exceeded 200,000 acres.

Officials said that with record temperatures throughout the west, the Bootleg fire was triggered by hot, dry, and windy weather and vegetation that had dried up due to prolonged droughts—all of which accelerated the spread of the fire.

According to data from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, a total of 60 fires this quarter consumed more than 1 million acres (404,680 hectares) of land in 12 states.

Last year, dozens of late-summer wildfires occurred in California, Oregon, and Washington, many of which were triggered by dry thunderstorms, killing more than three dozen people and burning more than 10.2 million acres (4.1 million hectares) of land.

Earlier this week, the high-voltage power corridor connecting Oregon’s grid to California’s threatened energy supply burned flames, prompting California to issue an energy saving alert. As the heat wave subsided, the alarm was cancelled.