Two extreme weather events — a lightning storm and gusting easterly winds — led to the devastating wildfires along the West Coast that firefighters are still battling.
Armies of firefighters responded. Clad in orange fire-resistant suits and helmets and carrying Pulaski hand tools, they trudged across blackened earth toward the flames. National Guard troops joined the effort.
Even local residents tried to save homes by gouging firelines by hand and with excavators and bulldozers.“You gotta pull together in times like this because it’s like a war zone out here,” Kerry Kuenzi, an area resident who with several dozen others fought a monster fire in the community of Scotts Mills, Oregon, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. The Beachie Creek Fire he faced covered less than a square mile on Sept. 7. Overnight, driven by high winds and extremely dry fuels, it grew to 205 square miles , fire managers said. New fires continued to ignite in California and Oregon. One burned near Interstate 5 in Oregon not far from the California state line, turning most of the towns of Phoenix and Talent into a blackened landscape littered with the twisted remains of mobile homes and other structures. The flames were so intense that firefighters sometimes had to retreat, including those facing a blaze threatening Portland’s southeastern suburbs. “You can’t really stand there with a hose when you’ve got 30-mile-an-hour winds and dry fuels,” Gersbach said. Firefighters from across the nation and Canada have descended on the region to help fight the blazes: There are more than 17,000 in California fighting over two dozen major fires, and more than 6,000 facing about a dozen blazes in Oregon. About 5,300 square miles have burned this year in California — more than ever before, Cal Fire said. In Oregon, the figure is about 1,560 square miles , nearly double the 10-year average. Residents are desperately hoping for rain to wash away the choking wildfire smoke. Predicted rains in fire-hit parts of Oregon haven’t arrived yet. California remains dry, though calming winds and lower temperatures — caused in part by the smoke blotting out the sun — have aided firefighters. Small amounts of rain are in the forecast for far northern California and the Sierra Nevada. More than 38,000 people are still not able to return home in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. Some 4,000 people remain in shelters in Oregon, according to the American Red Cross. Some no longer have homes to return to. About 1,600 homes were destroyed in Oregon, the state Office of Emergency Management said, and 4,200 structures burned in California.With the fire season not yet over, residents are praying for a respite before the next batch of large wildfires.Associated Press writers John Antczak in Los Angeles; Sara Cline in Salem, Oregon; and Gillian Flaccus in Portland contributed.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How and when did the California wildfires start?Wildfires can be a natural occurrence or can be started by humans.
Read more »
22 Tops You'll Probably Want To Add To Your Fall WardrobeThe days are getting shorter, but sleeves are getting longer.
Read more »
The Latest: Tropical Storm Teddy upgraded to a hurricaneHere are the latest developments on tropical weather (all times local): MIAMI - Tropical Storm Teddy has now become a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph) the National...
Read more »
Hurricane Sally makes landfall in Alabama as Category 2 storm as winds reach 105mph'Catastrophic and life-threatening' flooding was likely along portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said.
Read more »