Status: 07/17/2021 4:53 a.m.
The forest fire in the US state of Oregon is widening. The fire blazes over an area of around 976 square kilometers. Dozens of homes and other buildings were destroyed. The region is plagued by extreme drought.
A forest fire in the US state of Oregon destroyed at least 67 homes and 117 other buildings. The so-called bootleg fire broke out a good ten days ago and spreads several kilometers a day in strong winds. The fire last blazed largely unchecked over an area of 976 square kilometers. It was expected to merge with another blaze raging nearby.
On Thursday evening, the fire brigade had to flee because their life was endangered by downdrafts and flying sparks. According to fire department spokeswoman Holly Krake, 2,000 residents had to escape the flames and 5,000 buildings in the rural region north of the California border were at risk.
Fire clouds endanger firefighters
The inferno created so-called fire clouds from extremely hot air, which rise to a height of ten kilometers above the forest fire and represent a great danger for the fire fighters. “We expect exactly these conditions to continue until the weekend and get worse,” said Krake spokeswoman about the clouds of fire.
On the north Pacific coast of the USA, such fires are more typical for late summer or autumn. A total of 70 large fires blazed in the United States, which together scorched around 4,300 square kilometers of land, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Extreme drought and heat waves plague the region and make fighting fires difficult. Due to climate change, the western United States has become warmer and drier over the past 30 years.