At least 6 reported dead in Oregon wildfires as blazes rage across the West Coast
Source: Washington Post
Deadly wildfires continued to spread across the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, displacing tens of thousands of people, charring homes and businesses, and blackening the skies with plumes of smoke that have created some of the world’s most hazardous air conditions.
The blazes have engulfed more than 1 million acres of land in Oregon, leaving at least six people dead and forcing evacuations around some of the state’s population centers, as well as its rural areas. An estimated 500,000 people, or more than 10 percent of the state’s population, were under evacuation warnings or orders Saturday.
In the Portland metropolitan area, the fast-moving Riverside Fire was close to merging with the Beachie Creek Fire, compounding the crisis for the region of more than 2.4 million people. Combined, the blazes have burned through more than 310,000 acres and were zero-percent contained, according to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM).
Most of Clackamas County, which straddles the area between the two fires, was under a Level 3 evacuation order instructing residents to leave immediately and warning that emergency services may not be available to help if they stay behind. Conditions were so dangerous that some county firefighters were told to temporarily stand down, in what fire officials said was a “tactical pause” allowing them to reposition themselves and reassess the situation.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/12/oregon-fire-california-wildfires/
