Oregon Bootleg fire: massive blaze forces thousands of evacuations

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The Oregon Bootleg fire which has been roaring in Oregon for two weeks is now 80 per cent the size of London, stoked by hot dry winds and lightening.

Described as “red like Mars”, it is the largest of several dozen wildfires burning through drought-parched brush and timber in southern Oregon.

The fire, just north of the California state line, has grown to 476 square miles and has so far destroyed 67 homes with 3,400 more under threat.

It is one of 80 major wildfires currently burning through 13 US states, demanding more than 19,600 firefighters.

By late Monday, an army of 2,250 personnel battling the Bootleg managed to carve containment lines around 30 per cent of the perimeter, up from 22 per cent the day before, the Oregon Forestry Department reported.

Wildfires also devastated the state last year, with more than half a million people evacuated from their homes.

This time, an estimated 2,100 people were under evacuation orders or on standby alert to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. More than 100 outbuildings and other structures have also been lost.

“It was red, like we were on Mars,” evacuee Sayyid Bey, 45, said, recounting the crimson glow of the sky as flames he saw engulfing whole trees closed in on his property on the outskirts of Bly, Oregon, on July 9, raining soot and embers on the small community.

Bootleg Fire continues to grow in size
Bootleg fire, Oregon
REUTERS

At that point, Bey and his wife packed their three children - aged 6, 11 and 12 - with as many belongings as they could carry into a borrowed pickup truck and sped off down a gravel road out of harm’s way, he said.

He returned later to find his property reduced to ash, along with much of the rest of the wooded mountain enclave of mobile homes and hand-built dwellings called Sycan Estates, Bey said.

A former salesman who left his big-city fashion industry job several years ago to move “off the grid” in Oregon, Bey said he reckoned that at least 60 homes around his were lost. But he said neighbours were already banding together with plans to help one another rebuild.

Ground crews, backed by water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers, included reinforcements from at least 30 US states, according to agency spokesperson Marcus Kauffman.

Bootleg Fire continues to grow in size
Nicolas Bey, 11, hugs his father, Sayyid Bey, near a donated trailer they are using after their home was burned in the Bootleg fire
REUTERS

But the amount of landscape charred since the blaze erupted on July 6 grew another 47,000-plus acres on Monday alone to reach an estimated total of 364,000 acres - more than twice the size of London and half the land mass of Rhode Island.

“We are fighting the fire aggressively, and there are active efforts to build a containment line, both direct and indirect, wherever it is safe to do so,” Mr Kauffman said.

The overall Bootleg footprint included almost 13,000 acres burned in a smaller fire that merged with the Bootleg on Monday, he added.

Only three other Oregon wildfires over the past century have consumed more acreage, according to state forestry figures.

‘Sustained battle’

Homeowners were not alone in finding themselves scurrying into retreat.

Extremely incendiary conditions on Sunday forced some firefighting teams to fall back to safety zones for a ninth straight day and regroup as they “looked for opportunities to re-engage,” incident commander Joe Hessel wrote in his daily report.

“This fire is a real challenge, and we are looking at sustained battle for the foreseeable future.”

Bootleg Fire continues to grow in size
Remnants of cars destroyed by the Bootleg fire in Oreon
REUTERS

The spate of large fires has coincided with record-shattering heat that has baked much of the region in recent weeks and is blamed for hundreds of deaths.

Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires are largely attributable to prolonged drought and increasing bouts of excessive heat that are symptomatic of climate change.

Since starting nearly two weeks ago, the Bootleg fire has thrived in gusty winds, high temperatures and low humidity which is expected to persist in the days ahead. Forecasts on Monday added a chance of thunderstorms to the mix.

“Thunderstorms often just come with dry lightning and wind and don’t necessarily produce any precipitation,” Kauffman said.

The cause of the Bootleg fire is under investigation.

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