Status: 07/17/2021 4:53 AM
Wildfires in the US state of Oregon are spreading. The fire caught an area of about 976 square kilometers. Dozens of homes and other buildings were destroyed. The area suffers from severe drought.
A forest fire in the US state of Oregon has destroyed at least 67 homes and 117 other buildings. The so-called illegal fire broke out ten days ago and spreads several kilometers per day in strong winds. The fires last burned largely unchecked over an area of 976 square kilometres. It was expected to merge with another fire raging nearby.
On Thursday evening, the firefighters had to flee because their lives were endangered by flying clouds and flying sparks. According to Holy Creek Fire Department spokeswoman, 2,000 residents have been forced to flee the flames, and 5,000 structures in the rural area north of the California border are at risk.
Fire clouds put firefighters at risk
Hell created the so-called clouds of fire from the superheated air, which rise to a height of ten kilometers above the forest fires and represent a great danger to firefighters. “We exactly expect these conditions to continue into the end of the week and to get worse,” a Creek spokeswoman said.
On the northern Pacific coast of the United States, these fires are most common in late summer or fall. A total of 70 major fires broke out in the United States, which combined burned about 4,300 square kilometers of land, according to the Interagency National Fire Center. The region suffers from severe droughts and heat waves, making firefighting difficult. Climate change has made the western United States warmer and drier over the past 30 years.