By Deborah Bloom and Steve Gorman
METRO US
Posted on July 16, 2021
Firefighters deal with extreme conditions as Bootleg Fire expands, in Orego
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (Reuters) -A sprawling wildfire raging mostly unchecked for over a week in southern Oregon forced firefighters into retreat for a fourth straight day as it expanded to become the state’s fifth largest blaze in more than a century, forestry officials said on Friday.
The Bootleg fire, the biggest among dozens of wildfires flaring across the tinder-dry landscape of the Western United States, has scorched more than 241,000 acres – an area exceeding the land mass of New York City.
Ironically, heavy smoke shrouding much of the region from the fires may act to slightly blunt the effects of yet another heat wave expected this weekend in the Rockies, extending to parts of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
The Bootleg blaze has been burning through drought-parched timber and brush in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest since erupting on July 6 near Klamath Falls, about 250 miles (400 km) south of Portland. The cause is under investigation.
Flames have destroyed at least 21 homes and 54 other structures, authorities said. On Friday, the Oregon Department of Forestry listed 5,000-plus homes as threatened, about 3,000 more than a day earlier.
That figure represents a greater number of communities potentially in harm’s way as the blaze expands, said agency spokesman Marcus Kauffman. Still, fewer dwellings were in immediate danger, especially along the fire’s southern flank where crews had more success.
Consequently, the number of homes under mandatory evacuation declined by about half to just over 200 on Friday, while about 2,700 were placed on stand-by alerts.
Strike teams have carved containment lines around 7% of the fire’s perimeter. But extreme fire growth fueled by low humidity, dry vegetation and gusty winds forced firefighters to withdraw from leading edges of the blaze for a fourth consecutive day on Friday, officials said.
“The Bootleg fire perimeter is more than 200 miles long. That’s an enormous amount of line to build and hold,” incident commander Rob Allen said in a statement.
ANOTHER HEAT WAVE
Allen said hot, dry, windy conditions were expected to worsen over the weekend, while meteorologists forecast the arrival of yet another major Western heat wave, the fourth since early June.
This one, roasting portions of the Northern Rockies and High Plains through Monday, will emanate from a high-pressure ridge building over the Desert Southwest, said National Weather Service meteorologist David Lawrence.
That high-pressure dome may help pull some much-needed moisture into Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and southern Idaho, Lawrence said. A potential downside, however, is the increased chance of dry lightning storms forming in central and northern California ahead of any rain that may fall there, he added.
More than 1,900 firefighters and a dozen helicopters as well as airplane tankers and bulldozers were assigned to the Bootleg fire as demand for personnel and equipment across the Pacific Northwest strained available resources.
The Bootleg ranked as the largest by far of 70 major active wildfires listed on Thursday as having burned more than 1 million acres in 12 states, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, reported. It also stood as the fifth largest on record in Oregon since 1900, according to state forestry figures.
As of Wednesday, the center in Boise put its “national wildland fire preparedness level” at No. 5, the highest of its five-tier scale, meaning most U.S. firefighting resources are currently deployed somewhere across the country.
The situation represented an unusually busy start to the annual fire season, coming amid extremely dry conditions and record-breaking heat that has baked much of the West in recent weeks.
Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires are largely attributable to prolonged drought and increasing bouts of excessive heat that are symptomatic of climate change.
Nearly 70 National Weather Service stations across the West have posted all-time high temperatures this summer, and several hundred record highs for specific dates have also been set, Lawrence said
The Bootleg fire is so large that it generates its own weather. Towering pyrocumulus clouds form from condensed moisture that is sucked up through the fire’s smoke column from burned vegetation and the surrounding atmosphere, and can spawn lightning and high winds.
The sudden “collapse” of one such cloud on Friday spread embers to the east of the main fire zone, prompting additional evacuation notices for two communities, Allen said.
(Reporting by Deborah Bloom in Klamath Falls, Ore.; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio and Leslie Adler)
Firefighters deal with extreme conditions as Bootleg Fire expands, in Oregon
Thousands evacuated as raging wildfires spread in Oregon and US West
Issued on: 17/07/2021 -
The Bootleg Fire is one of at least a dozen major fires burning in Washington state, Oregon and California as a siege of wildfires takes hold across the drought-stricken West. There were 70 active large fires and complexes of multiple fires that have burned nearly 1,659 square miles (4,297 square kilometers) in the US, the National Interagency Fire Center said.
In the Pacific Northwest, firefighters say they are facing conditions more typical of late summer or fall than early July.
About 200 firefighters were battling but had little control over the 17-square-mile (44-square-kilometer) Red Apple Fire near the Washington city of Wenatchee renowned for its apples. The flames were threatening apple orchards and an electrical substation, but no buildings have been lost, officials said.
In California, the Tamarack Fire in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest quickly grew to 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) on Friday, prompting evacuations in the Markleeville area in Alpine County. The blaze prompted the cancelation of Saturday’s “Death Ride,” a 103-mile (165.76-kilometer) bicycle ride in the so-called California Alps over three Sierra Nevada mountain passes.
(AP)
Issued on: 17/07/2021 -
Fire from the Bootleg Fire illuminates smoke at night near Bly, Oregon, July 16, 2021.
© Payton Bruni, AFP
Firefighters scrambled Friday to control a raging inferno in southeastern Oregon that’s spreading miles a day in windy conditions, one of numerous wildfires across the US West that are straining resources.
Crews had to flee the fire lines late Thursday after a dangerous “fire cloud” started to collapse, threatening them with strong downdrafts and flying embers. An initial review Friday showed the Bootleg Fire destroyed 67 homes and 117 outbuildings overnight in one county. Authorities were still counting the losses in a second county where the flames are surging up to 4 miles (6 kilometers) a day.
The blaze has forced 2,000 people to evacuate and is threatening 5,000 buildings that include homes and smaller structures in a rural area just north of the California border, fire spokeswoman Holly Krake said. Active flames are surging along 200 miles (322 kilometers) of the fire’s perimeter, she said, and it’s expected to merge with a smaller, but equally explosive fire by nightfall.
The Bootleg Fire is now 377 square miles (976 square kilometers) — larger than the area of New York City — and mostly uncontained.
“We’re likely going to continue to see fire growth over miles and miles of active fire line,” Krake said. “We are continuing to add thousands of acres a day, and it has the potential each day, looking forward into the weekend, to continue those 3- to 4-mile runs.”
The inferno has stymied firefighters for a week with erratic winds and extremely dangerous fire behavior, including ominous fire clouds that form from superheated air rising to a height of up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) above the blaze.
“We’re expecting those same exact conditions to continue and worsen into the weekend,” Krake said of the fire-induced clouds.
Early on, the fire doubled in size almost daily, and strong winds Thursday again pushed the flames rapidly. Similar winds gusting up to 30 mph (48 kph) were expected Friday.
Dry conditions and heat waves
It’s burning an area north of the California border that has been gripped by extreme drought, like most of the American West.
Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have swept the region, making wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years, and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
The blaze was most active on its northeastern flank, pushed by winds from the south toward the rural communities of Summer Lake and Spring Lake. Paisley, to the east of the fire, was also at risk. All the towns are in Lake County, a remote area of lakes and wildlife refuges with a total population of about 8,000.
Firefighters scrambled Friday to control a raging inferno in southeastern Oregon that’s spreading miles a day in windy conditions, one of numerous wildfires across the US West that are straining resources.
Crews had to flee the fire lines late Thursday after a dangerous “fire cloud” started to collapse, threatening them with strong downdrafts and flying embers. An initial review Friday showed the Bootleg Fire destroyed 67 homes and 117 outbuildings overnight in one county. Authorities were still counting the losses in a second county where the flames are surging up to 4 miles (6 kilometers) a day.
The blaze has forced 2,000 people to evacuate and is threatening 5,000 buildings that include homes and smaller structures in a rural area just north of the California border, fire spokeswoman Holly Krake said. Active flames are surging along 200 miles (322 kilometers) of the fire’s perimeter, she said, and it’s expected to merge with a smaller, but equally explosive fire by nightfall.
The Bootleg Fire is now 377 square miles (976 square kilometers) — larger than the area of New York City — and mostly uncontained.
“We’re likely going to continue to see fire growth over miles and miles of active fire line,” Krake said. “We are continuing to add thousands of acres a day, and it has the potential each day, looking forward into the weekend, to continue those 3- to 4-mile runs.”
The inferno has stymied firefighters for a week with erratic winds and extremely dangerous fire behavior, including ominous fire clouds that form from superheated air rising to a height of up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) above the blaze.
“We’re expecting those same exact conditions to continue and worsen into the weekend,” Krake said of the fire-induced clouds.
Early on, the fire doubled in size almost daily, and strong winds Thursday again pushed the flames rapidly. Similar winds gusting up to 30 mph (48 kph) were expected Friday.
Dry conditions and heat waves
It’s burning an area north of the California border that has been gripped by extreme drought, like most of the American West.
Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have swept the region, making wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years, and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
The blaze was most active on its northeastern flank, pushed by winds from the south toward the rural communities of Summer Lake and Spring Lake. Paisley, to the east of the fire, was also at risk. All the towns are in Lake County, a remote area of lakes and wildlife refuges with a total population of about 8,000.
The Bootleg Fire is one of at least a dozen major fires burning in Washington state, Oregon and California as a siege of wildfires takes hold across the drought-stricken West. There were 70 active large fires and complexes of multiple fires that have burned nearly 1,659 square miles (4,297 square kilometers) in the US, the National Interagency Fire Center said.
In the Pacific Northwest, firefighters say they are facing conditions more typical of late summer or fall than early July.
About 200 firefighters were battling but had little control over the 17-square-mile (44-square-kilometer) Red Apple Fire near the Washington city of Wenatchee renowned for its apples. The flames were threatening apple orchards and an electrical substation, but no buildings have been lost, officials said.
In California, the Tamarack Fire in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest quickly grew to 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) on Friday, prompting evacuations in the Markleeville area in Alpine County. The blaze prompted the cancelation of Saturday’s “Death Ride,” a 103-mile (165.76-kilometer) bicycle ride in the so-called California Alps over three Sierra Nevada mountain passes.
(AP)
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