Oregon governor says she is preparing for a 'mass fatality event' with dozens missing as hundreds of firefighters battle two huge wildfires and 500,000 are evacuated - while death toll on the West Coast exceeds 25
Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state as the death toll is expected to climb significantly.
Authorities in Oregon, California, and Washington State reported at least 25 dead on Friday.
Oregon's emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are 'preparing for a mass fatality event' and that thousands of structures have been destroyed.
Governor Kate Brown said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, either having been told to leave or to prepare to do so.
Farm equipment is seen through heavy smoke on Friday in Molalla, Oregon. Multiple wildfires grew by hundreds of thousands of acres this week, prompting large-scale evacuations throughout the state
Boaters pass by the Seattle skyline during hazy air conditions on Friday morning as smoke pollution from wildfires raging in California and across the Pacific Northwest worsened in San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon
Volunteer Elizabeth Stoltz of Heisson waters the Fort Vancouver Garden in Vancouver, Washington, on Friday
The Bobcat Fire burns down trees in the Angeles National Forest on Friday in Monrovia, California
The map above shows 103 fires that have already burned more than 3.4 million acres across the western United States
She was dialing back on a statement late Thursday issued by the state Office of Emergency Management that said a half-million people had been ordered to evacuate statewide.
Dozens of people are missing in Jackson County in the south and Marion County, where a fire continues to burn east of Salem, Brown told a news conference Friday.
Also Friday, authorities announced that a man had been arrested on two counts of arson for allegedly starting a fire in southern Oregon on Tuesday.
The Oregon Convention Center in Portland was among the buildings being transformed into shelters for evacuees.
Portland, shrouded in smoke from the fires, on Friday had the worst air quality of the world's major cities, according to IQAir.
National Guard troops and corrections officers transferred about 1,300 inmates from a women's prison in a southern suburb of Portland 'out of an abundance of caution,' the Oregon Department of Corrections said.
Spokeswoman Vanessa Vanderzee said it took 20 hours to transfer the inmates Thursday to another prison in a safe zone.
Search and rescue personnel from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office look for the possible remains of a missing elderly resident in a mobile home park in Ashland, Oregon, on Friday
Hundreds of homes in Ashland and nearby towns have been lost due to wildfire. Oregon state authorities believe the wildfires are a 'mass fatality event'
Derek Trenton from Talent, Oregon, salvages some items at his parents home as wildfires devastate the region on Friday
Marty Hogan, who evacuated from outside Oregon City, holds his chicken, Oddball, near his trailer in the Clackamas Town Center parking lot on Friday in Clackamas, Oregon
Eagle Point resident Joey Delcerro, whose family was displaced by the South Obenchain Fire, helps his daughter Charlie, 5, carry a bag of dog food from a makeshift donation organized by mothers from the Rogue Valley in White City, Oregon, on Friday
Eagle Point resident Charlie Delcerro, 5, whose family was displayed by the South Obenchain Fire, plays with toys at a makeshift donation
Oregon firefighters work behind caution tape in Mill City, Oregon, on Thursday as they battle the Santiam Fire
A change in the weather, with winds dropping and shifting direction and humidity rising, greatly helped firefighters struggling to prevent two fires - one burning southeast of Portland and the other east of Salem, the state capital - from advancing farther west into more-populated areas.
'The wind laid down quite a bit for us yesterday. There also wasn't that strong eastern wind that was pushing the fire more to the west,' said Stefan Myers of the state's fire information team.
Winds coming from the Pacific Ocean also neutralized the fires' advance and even pushed them back, Myers said.
Almost 500 personnel were working on the fires, which were just a few miles (kilometers) apart, with rugged terrain between them that limits boots-on-the-ground efforts to keep them apart, Myers said.
If they merge, they could generate such heat that it causes embers to fly thousands of feet into the air, potentially igniting other areas, Myers said.
The high number of fires occurring simultaneously in the span of just a few days in Oregon was fueled by dry conditions, high temperatures and especially strong, swirling winds.
Brown said Thursday that more than 1,400 square miles have burned in Oregon over the past three days, nearly double the land that burns in a typical year in the state and an area greater than the size of Rhode Island.
Oregon officials haven't released an exact death count for the wildfires, but at least five fatalities have been reported in the state.
A one-year-old boy was killed in wildfires in Washington.
A camp crew truck was destroyed on Stringtown Road in a Thursday evening flare-up in Oroville, California, which burned over the truck in the Bear Fire
A firefighting jet tanker drops fire retardant on the Bobcat Fire at the Angeles National Forest on Friday
The Bobcat Fire has grown to more than 26,000 acres and was just 6 per cent contained as of Friday
A fallen tree burns during the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Monrovia, California, on Friday
Firefighters check along a ridge as the Bobcat Fire burns in the Angeles National Forest near Monrovia, California, on Friday
More than 4,844 square miles - or 3.1 million acres - have burned in California this year, more than in any other fire season in the state’s recorded history
Six fires this year are on the top 20 list of largest fires in state history, including the largest, which is the August Complex Fire
Firefighters from Vandenberg Air Force Base monitor a controlled burn to help slow the Dolan Fire at Limekiln State Park in Big Sur, California, on Friday
A firefighter shoots an incendiary device during a back burn to help control the Dolan Fire at Limekiln State Park in Big Sur, California, on Friday
A firefighter with Vandenberg Air Force Base, throws an incendiary device during a back burn to help control the Dolan Fire in Big Sur, California, on Friday
Flames consume dry brush around City of Santa Barbara firefighters setting a backfire along Oro Quincy Highway in the aftermath of the Bear Fire on Thursday
Embers swirl around City of Santa Barbara firefighter Mark Kramer as his crew sets a backfire along Oro Quincy Highway on Thursday
The North Complex fire near Oroville, California, that exploded in wind-driven flames earlier in the week was advancing more slowly Friday after the winds eased and smoke from the blaze shaded the area and lowered the temperature, authorities said
The North Complex fire tore through Sierra Nevada foothills so quickly that fire crews were nearly engulfed, locals fled for their lives to a pond, and the town of Berry Creek, population 525, and other communities were gutted
Boats are shrouded in smoke and ash at Loafer Point on Lake Oroville in the aftermath of the Bear Fire on Thursday
The Bobcat Fire burns down trees in the Angeles National Forest on Friday in Monrovia, California
Mormon Lake Hotshots firefighter Sara Sweeney uses a drip torch to set a backfire to protect mountain communities from the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest on Thursday
California wildfires that have already incinerated a record 2.3 million acres this year and are expected to continue until December
A Northern California fire that tore through several hamlets in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada this week killed 10 people, making it the deadliest of the year.
In Oregon, evacuation centers opened across the state.
Kim Carbaugh fled from her home in Lyons with her husband, two children and two horses Monday.
'When we were driving away and I could see actual fire, the red and orange flames, at the time I didn't feel scared, I had so much adrenaline - we just had to leave,' she said Friday from the livestock stables of the evacuation center at the State Fairgrounds in Salem.
One fire approached Molalla, triggering a mandatory evacuation order for the community of about 9,000 located 30 miles south of Portland.
A police car rolled through the streets with a loudspeaker blaring 'evacuate now.'
With the two large fires - called the Beachie Fire and the Riverside Fire - threatening to merge, some firefighters in Clackamas County, which encompasses Molalla, were told to disengage temporarily Thursday because of the danger.
Officials tried to reassure residents who abandoned their homes and law enforcement officials said police patrols would be stepped up to prevent looting.
The change in weather also aided efforts to contain a fire near Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast, that according to an estimate has damaged or destroyed at least 100 structures.
'Thank God, we got a wind shift. The wind started coming from the west, pushing the fire back towards the east, and that's what kept it within its footprint and kept it from growing,' fire spokesperson Ashley Lertora said.
Oregon's congressional delegation announced Friday that the White House has approved the state's request for an emergency declaration that will help provide immediate assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler said Friday that a 41-year-old man was jailed on two charges of arson for a fire that started Tuesday in the Phoenix area in southern Oregon.
Sickler said the Almeda fire, which burned hundreds of homes, had ignition points in Ashland near the spot where a man was found dead, and in Phoenix.
Authorities said the man was arrested at the second ignition point in Phoenix and that he denied starting the fire.
Oregon governor says she is preparing for a 'mass fatality event' with dozens missing as hundreds of firefighters battle two huge wildfires and 500,000 are evacuated - while death toll on the West Coast exceeds 25
![Oregon governor says she is preparing for a 'mass fatality event' with dozens missing as hundreds of firefighters battle two huge wildfires and 500,000 are evacuated - while death toll on the West Coast exceeds 25]()
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