- Oregon’s massive Bootleg Fire, now at 616 square miles in size, was only 32% contained as of Wednesday morning.
- In all, 78 large wildfires are burning across 13 states, most of them in the western U.S.
- Dry conditions, drought and record-breaking heat waves have all created the conditions to prompt such large blazes.
The nation’s largest wildfire grew Wednesday as smoke from dozens of blazes in the West spread across the country, leading to hazy skies as far east as Boston and New York City.
Oregon’s massive Bootleg Fire, at 616 square miles, was 32% contained as of Wednesday morning. The fire has ravaged the southern part of the state, expanding by up to 4 miles a day, pushed by gusting winds and critically dry weather that turned trees and undergrowth into a tinderbox.
The fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest merged with a smaller blaze Tuesday, and it has repeatedly breached a perimeter of treeless dirt and fire retardant meant to stop its advance.
“We’re in this for as long as it takes to safely confine this monster,” incident commander Rob Allen said.
At least 2,000 homes have been evacuated during the fire and 5,000 are threatened. At least 70 homes and more than 100 outbuildings have gone up in flames.
“I would categorize this fire season thus far as historic in terms of the amount of resources we’ve deployed, how many times we’ve deployed – within a three-week period, we’ve mobilized to six conflagrations – and this is the earliest and most significant mobilization to date,” Mariana Ruiz-Temple with the Oregon fire marshal’s office told CNN Tuesday.
In all, 78 large wildfires are burning across 13 states, most of them in the western USA, the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday, affecting more than 1.3 million acres of land. That’s an area larger than Rhode Island.
“More than 20,700 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents,” the NIFC said.
Fires grew on both sides of California’s Sierra Nevada. In Alpine County, the Tamarack Fire caused evacuations of several communities and grew to 61 square miles with no containment. The Dixie Fire, near the site of 2018’s deadly Paradise Fire, was more than 90 square miles and threatened tiny communities in the Feather River Valley region.
More:Thick smoke from Western wildfires travels thousands of miles, clouding NYC skies
Dry conditions, drought and record-breaking heat waves have all created conditions to prompt such large blazes. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and is likely to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
More:From fire clouds to fire tornadoes, here’s how wildfires can create their own weather
The forecast for Wednesday in the West wasn’t good: “Extreme drought, gusty winds and the continuing threat of dry lightning could create elevated to critical fire weather,” the National Weather Service said.
“These conditions stretch from the northern Sierra Nevada and Great Basin to the northern Rockies, where fire weather watches and red flag warnings have been issued,” the weather service said.
Tony Galvez fled the Tamarack Fire in California on Tuesday with his daughter at the last minute and found out that his home was gone.
“I lost my whole life, everything I’ve ever had. The kids are what’s going to matter,” he said as he fielded calls from relatives. “I got three teenagers. They’re going to go home to a moonscape.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
