'Like a war zone hit it': Dozens remain missing as deadly wildfires scorch Western states
Dozens of wildfires tearing through communities across the West on Sunday have killed 33 people, and officials say dozens more are missing.
Images from the ravaged areas are perfectly apocalyptic, with scorched trees and telephone poles poking out from smoky gray, ashen landscapes. Buildings are reduced to piles of bricks, concrete and metal. Cars sit in driveways and along roadsides, blackened and gutted.
Major fires spanning several states have burned 4.6 million acres, national fire officials say. That's an area roughly equivalent to Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
While the 94 major blazes are burning mostly in rural and forested areas, major cities along the West Coast -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, among them -- are also feeling the impact.
Smoke from the blazes is making air quality unhealthy, which can irritate lungs, cause inflammation and affect the immune system, heightening the risk of lung infections such as coronavirus. In Oakland, California, where many businesses and facilities are closed because of statewide Covid-19 precautions, officials have opened "clean air centers" for those with nowhere else to go, CNN affiliate KGO reported.
"I currently don't have my own home right now so I didn't want to be stuck outdoors all day, and I have asthma. I could start to feel like my breathing was getting a little tight so I decided to come over here," said Teddie Moorehead, who has been homeless since June and sought refuge at the Dimond Branch Library.
Of the people killed since some of the fires broke out in mid-August, 22 have been in California, many in recent days. Ten people have been killed in Oregon, and a child was killed in Washington state.
The majority of the fires are in California (25), Washington (16), Oregon (13) and Idaho (10), though blazes have also emerged in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, the National Interagency Fire Center said Sunday morning.
"More than 30,000 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the country," the center said Sunday.
'It's all gone'
The Holiday Farm Fire east of Eugene, Oregon, which has torched more than 160,000 acres in the Willamette National Forest -- an area slightly larger than the city of Chicago -- is growing rapidly. It spread 5,000 acres Friday alone, officials say.
Caught in the middle of the forest is the town of Vida, where Nailah Garner had to flee her dream home last week, she and her husband forced to scramble "like the Keystone Cops," she told CNN affiliate KOMO.
"We didn't know what to grab. We didn't pack. Who knows what to do when you're going through this?" she said.
Authorities have shut down the main road into the town of 1,200 situated on the picturesque McKenzie River. Only residents who need to retrieve their pets or emergency medications are allowed past the roadblocks, the station reported.
Garner could hear the sadness in her friend's voice when she reported that Garner's dream home was no more, KOMO reported. Wearing donated clothes, Garner explained she had lost everything.
"It's all gone, and it looks like a war zone hit it," she said.
Three California fires reach historic proportions
In California, firefighters are battling more than two dozen major fires, but officials expressed hope that improving weather conditions will boost efforts to control the flames.
Three of the five largest wildfires in state history are burning now, officials say. One of those blazes, the LNU Complex Fire, which was about 96% contained as of Saturday, has burned more than 363,000 acres.
The fire is burning in Northern California wine country, and vintners worry the smoke will taint the grapes, reducing this year's yield. Oscar Renteria manages thousands of acres of vineyards, including his own patch on the edge of the LNU Complex Fire, about half of which is ruined, he told CNN affiliate KPIX.
"That's what I can predict right now," he told the station. "I've got two more weeks to go to test, and I'm not sure that I'm even going to pick some of mine. I may just take my losses and go home."
Little rain, high temperatures and strong winds helped fuel the flames, and it's unclear how long it will take to get them under control.
Angeles National Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia's department is fighting fires with 500 personnel, when it usually has 1,000 to 1,500, he said Saturday. Some firefighters are working more than 24 hours in a shift, he said. The Bobcat Fire northeast of Los Angeles is tearing through the mountainous national forest.
More than 4,100 structures have been destroyed since August 15, Cal Fire said Sunday, adding that 16,750 firefighters are battling fires statewide. As the massive fires rage, more are popping up.
"Firefighters across the state responded to 36 new wildfires yesterday, and all were contained quickly," the agency said.
Fires in the state have burned more than 3.3 million acres this year, with the August Complex Fire burning in the Mendocino National Forest accounting for more than a quarter of the sum. The blaze, the largest in state history, is only 28% contained, according to Cal Fire.: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/13/us/us...day/index.html
Dozens of wildfires tearing through communities across the West on Sunday have killed 33 people, and officials say dozens more are missing.
Images from the ravaged areas are perfectly apocalyptic, with scorched trees and telephone poles poking out from smoky gray, ashen landscapes. Buildings are reduced to piles of bricks, concrete and metal. Cars sit in driveways and along roadsides, blackened and gutted.
Major fires spanning several states have burned 4.6 million acres, national fire officials say. That's an area roughly equivalent to Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
While the 94 major blazes are burning mostly in rural and forested areas, major cities along the West Coast -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, among them -- are also feeling the impact.
Smoke from the blazes is making air quality unhealthy, which can irritate lungs, cause inflammation and affect the immune system, heightening the risk of lung infections such as coronavirus. In Oakland, California, where many businesses and facilities are closed because of statewide Covid-19 precautions, officials have opened "clean air centers" for those with nowhere else to go, CNN affiliate KGO reported.
"I currently don't have my own home right now so I didn't want to be stuck outdoors all day, and I have asthma. I could start to feel like my breathing was getting a little tight so I decided to come over here," said Teddie Moorehead, who has been homeless since June and sought refuge at the Dimond Branch Library.
Of the people killed since some of the fires broke out in mid-August, 22 have been in California, many in recent days. Ten people have been killed in Oregon, and a child was killed in Washington state.
The majority of the fires are in California (25), Washington (16), Oregon (13) and Idaho (10), though blazes have also emerged in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, the National Interagency Fire Center said Sunday morning.
"More than 30,000 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the country," the center said Sunday.
'It's all gone'
The Holiday Farm Fire east of Eugene, Oregon, which has torched more than 160,000 acres in the Willamette National Forest -- an area slightly larger than the city of Chicago -- is growing rapidly. It spread 5,000 acres Friday alone, officials say.
Caught in the middle of the forest is the town of Vida, where Nailah Garner had to flee her dream home last week, she and her husband forced to scramble "like the Keystone Cops," she told CNN affiliate KOMO.
"We didn't know what to grab. We didn't pack. Who knows what to do when you're going through this?" she said.
Authorities have shut down the main road into the town of 1,200 situated on the picturesque McKenzie River. Only residents who need to retrieve their pets or emergency medications are allowed past the roadblocks, the station reported.
Garner could hear the sadness in her friend's voice when she reported that Garner's dream home was no more, KOMO reported. Wearing donated clothes, Garner explained she had lost everything.
"It's all gone, and it looks like a war zone hit it," she said.
Three California fires reach historic proportions
In California, firefighters are battling more than two dozen major fires, but officials expressed hope that improving weather conditions will boost efforts to control the flames.
Three of the five largest wildfires in state history are burning now, officials say. One of those blazes, the LNU Complex Fire, which was about 96% contained as of Saturday, has burned more than 363,000 acres.
The fire is burning in Northern California wine country, and vintners worry the smoke will taint the grapes, reducing this year's yield. Oscar Renteria manages thousands of acres of vineyards, including his own patch on the edge of the LNU Complex Fire, about half of which is ruined, he told CNN affiliate KPIX.
"That's what I can predict right now," he told the station. "I've got two more weeks to go to test, and I'm not sure that I'm even going to pick some of mine. I may just take my losses and go home."
Little rain, high temperatures and strong winds helped fuel the flames, and it's unclear how long it will take to get them under control.
Angeles National Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia's department is fighting fires with 500 personnel, when it usually has 1,000 to 1,500, he said Saturday. Some firefighters are working more than 24 hours in a shift, he said. The Bobcat Fire northeast of Los Angeles is tearing through the mountainous national forest.
More than 4,100 structures have been destroyed since August 15, Cal Fire said Sunday, adding that 16,750 firefighters are battling fires statewide. As the massive fires rage, more are popping up.
"Firefighters across the state responded to 36 new wildfires yesterday, and all were contained quickly," the agency said.
Fires in the state have burned more than 3.3 million acres this year, with the August Complex Fire burning in the Mendocino National Forest accounting for more than a quarter of the sum. The blaze, the largest in state history, is only 28% contained, according to Cal Fire.: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/13/us/us...day/index.html
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