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© Reuters. In this picture obtained from social media on July 13, 2021, piracy fires are raging in central Oregon in Klamath County, Oregon, USA.Oregon Fire Department/via Reuters
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By Deborah Bloom
Klamath Falls, Oregon (Reuters)-Firefighters struggled to contain a fire in Oregon on Thursday that has displaced hundreds of residents because neighboring states started again when the unusually early start of the western wildfire season A new fire broke out.
According to data from the inter-agency InciWeb, as the rapidly moving fire threatened nearly 2,000 homes, more than 1,700 people, with the help of 12 helicopters, increased the line of control around Bootleg’s fire from 5% on Wednesday to 7%.
InciWeb said that since July 6, the fire in and around Fremont-Vinemar National Forest, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Portland, has been burning and spread to another 12,000 acres overnight. , More than 227,000 acres (91,860 hectares). .
“This will continue to grow-extremely dry vegetation and weather are not good for us,” accident commander Joe Hessel said on Twitter.
Officials said no casualties were related to the Bootleg fire, but it destroyed 21 houses and 54 other buildings and forced hundreds of people to leave their homes. Many people took refuge in the Red Cross evacuation center at Klamath Falls Fair.
According to state forestry data, the Bootleg fire is easily the largest of at least 10 active wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and the seventh largest fire in Oregon since 1900.
Due to drought conditions and recent heat waves that have swept the western states, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho reported that 71 fires have destroyed approximately 1 million acres (404,680 hectares).
One of them, the Dixie Fire, started abruptly in Butte County, California on Wednesday, not far from Paradise, a mountain city that destroyed 85 civilians in a fire in 2018 and destroyed the most deadly wildfire in the state Nearly 19,000 buildings during the year.
The Dixie fire scorched about 2,250 acres (910 hectares) in the first 24 hours, and about 500 people fought the fire. The fire spread to a steep, rocky wooded area about 85 miles (140 kilometers) north of Sacramento. Terrain.
Erik Wegner of the U.S. Forest Service said that the dead wood and dense trees on the mountain provided ripe conditions for the fire to ignite and quickly pass through the area. “It took off very fast,” he told Reuters.
The fire prompted the Butte County Sheriff’s Office to warn residents in and outside the Pulga community to evacuate.
The Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter on Wednesday: “Remember that the situation may change rapidly, and we urge community members to prepare and make plans for your family and pets.”
At the same time, in Washington, officials stated that they have controlled approximately 20% of the Chuweah Creek fire near Nespelem, about 175 miles northeast of Seattle. The fire has burned approximately 22,900 acres (9,270 hectares), mainly in federal tribes. Colville Reservation.
The fire, caused by lightning and first reported on Monday, was caused by dry grass and wood, accompanied by gusts of wind, as firefighters used airplanes and helicopters to drip water and flame retardants on it.
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