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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh in Oakland

US wildfires: more than 20 believed to have died as fires rage on west coast – as it happened

A firefighter in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia, California.
A firefighter in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia in California. The state has faced weeks of raging fires. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

Summary

  • Deadly, historic fires continue to burn across the West, even as lighter winds and cooler weather aided fire crews fighting to contain the flames. The blazes have killed at least 20 in California and eight in Oregon, as dozens remain missing. Oregon’s emergency management director Andrew Phelps said officials were preparing for “a mass fatality incident” as crews combed through singed towns.
  • In California, the August Complex fire was 25% contained. Since the inferno was sparked in mid-August, it has grown into the largest fire in California history, encompassing nearly 847,000 acres. Meanwhile, the North Complex fire has become the deadliest blaze in the state this year, burning in the same northern California region that two years ago endured the devastating Camp Fire.
  • Donald Trump will visit California on Monday in the wake of the catastrophe. Although the president approved funding for California and Oregon, he has not said much about the wildfires that have seized the west.
  • The fires have billowed toxic smoke across the region. Officials have opened respite centers for those without shelter. In Butte County, the Air Quality Index in some areas was between 800 and 1000 - well above the 500 mark where the government’s chart of hazard levels chart ends.
  • Oregon’s fire marshall has been put on administrative leave and relaced with a deputy. Officials did not make clear why Jim Walker, who has been the fire marshal since 2014, was replaced with deputy Mariana Ruiz-Temple. The marshal is responsible for coordinating fire response across the state.
  • Misinformation about the fires continued to perpetuate in Oregon, where rumors on social media suggested the fires were started by Antifa arsonists. Although one person was arrested for alleged arson amid the fires, the majority of fires across Oregon and the west appear to have been sparked by power lines and other ignitions.

Keep up with The Guardian’s rolling coverage of the fires here:

Updated

Here’s another satellite view of the smoke:

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoke from the fires can make people more prone to lung infections, including Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic has complicated efforts to shelter those not only fleeing fires but also those without shelter, who need to be shielded from the smoke blanketing the region.

Misinformation about the fires in Oregon has continued to be an issue.

A report from Oregon Public Radio has corrected false claims that arsonists are responsible for the fires. Earlier this week, reporters were approached by an armed group, suspicious because of rumors that Antifa arsonists were afoot. Although one person was arrested for alleged arson amid the fires, the majority of fires across Oregon and the west appear to have been sparked by power lines and other ignitions.

Dry, hot conditions had primed the landscape to burn.

My colleague Jason Wilson reports from Molalla, Oregon:

Fear, uncertainty and disinformation gripped Molalla ahead of the evacuation.

In preceding days, Facebook pages associated with the town were filled with rumors of looters and Antifa raids. On its Facebook page overnight, Molalla police were forced to amend an earlier call for residents to report suspicious activity.

“This is about possible looters, not antifa or setting of fires,” the edit read. “There has been NO antifa in town as of this posting at 02am. Please, folks, stay calm and use common sense.”

The effects of this disinformation were dangerously evident on the ground.

On Thursday afternoon, three journalists were confronted by men with AR-15s and summarily ordered to leave Molalla. One of them, Sergio Olmos, who was on assignment for Oregon Public Broadcasting, said that the orders were given by the men – apparently civilians – without explanations or identification.

Further afield, other men with similar sympathies appeared to be on patrol. Although few vehicles were left in Mulino save those belonging to emergency services, on the trip there and again on back roads en route to Oregon City, men in trucks bearing thin blue line flags – a badge of membership for rightwing movements – were observed in states of hypervigilance. Some appeared to be noting the faces and number plates of passersby.

In northern California, a forecast of gusty winds tomorrow and Monday are a cause for some concern, per the National Weather Service.

The Portland area will have to wait until Monday for improved air quality, according to the National Weather Service.

This weekend, the region “will see widespread smoky conditions with smoke layers aloft keeping little if any sunshine from reaching the ground,” according to the NWS. On Monday, slies might stiill be gray, but “it will be a welcome gray, as moisture laden clouds increase,” per the weather service. Spotty rain and moisture will help fire crews contain the flames burning through the area.

A commercial aircraft is seen as smoke from wildfires covers an area at the Portland International Airport.
A commercial aircraft is seen as smoke from wildfires covers an area at the Portland International Airport. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

About 1.47m acres of Oregon and Washington have been engulfed in flames, according to the Bureau of Land Management, with 27 large fires burning. Here’s what that looks like in satellite imagery:

Here are some more images of the devastation in Oregon:

Four-year-old twin brothers Chance and Ryder Sutton watch their father Chuck Sutton, 47, light a cigarette as they prepare to evacuate their home from the Obenchain Fire in Butte Falls, Oregon.
Four-year-old twin brothers Chance and Ryder Sutton watch their father Chuck Sutton, 47, light a cigarette as they prepare to evacuate their home from the Obenchain Fire in Butte Falls, Oregon. Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters
Bryan Alvarez holds a sign for oncoming traffic as utility workers repair power lines in the aftermath of the Obenchain Fire in Eagle Point, Oregon.
Bryan Alvarez holds a sign for oncoming traffic as utility workers repair power lines in the aftermath of the Obenchain Fire in Eagle Point, Oregon. Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters
Shawn Thompson hugs Melissa Vuckovich after an unsuccessful search for their missing cat, at the location of where their home once stood, in a mobile home park on September 11, 2020 in Ashland, Oregon
Shawn Thompson hugs Melissa Vuckovich after an unsuccessful search for their missing cat, at the location of where their home once stood, in a mobile home park on September 11, 2020 in Ashland, Oregon Photograph: David Ryder/Getty Images

Oregon's fire marshal replaced

Oregon’s fire marshall – who is responsible for leading the state’s fire service – was placed on administrative leave.

According to Oregon State Police, Jim Walker, who has been the fire marshal since 2014, was replaced with deputy Mariana Ruiz-Temple. The department did not explain what necessitated the leadership change. In a statement, police superintendent Travis Hampton said, “Mariana is assuming this position as Oregon is in an unprecedented crisis which demands an urgent response.”

“This response and the circumstances necessitated a leadership change. I have the absolute confidence in Mariana to lead OSFM operations through this critical time,” he continued. “She is tested, trusted and respected – having the rare combination of technical aptitude in field operations and administration.”

As more than 1m acres burn in Oregon, dozens are still missing and tens of thousands have been displaced. At least eight had been reported.

The August Complex fire –which began as 37 separate fires sparked a rare bout of dry lightning in mid-August – has grown into the largest fire on record in California, displacing the Mendocino Complex fire – which burned the same region 2018 – for the top spot. Spanning across 846,812 acres, the fire is 25% contained. Officials said that the influx of more favorable weather would aid fire crews in further containing the flames this weekend, which have engulfed a massive area north of Sacramento.

The air is hazardous in Butte County, as the North Complex fire rages on. The fire has burned more than 250,000 acres and has killed at least nine people – in a region that just two years ago was hit by the deadly Camp Fires.

The Air Quality Index in Oroville is between 800 and 1000 - well above where the government’s AQI chart cuts off at 500.

Updated

As the fires turn the air toxic, unhoused people are especially vulnerable. In Oakland, where the air quality is especially unhealthy today, the city has opened air respite centers.

In Portland, authorities are doing the same:

My colleague Vivian Ho has written about how Californians without shelter or protective masks face dangerous, extended exposure:

Updated

Some national Democratic leaders also have been slow to call attention to the fires in California, Oregon and Washington which have killed more than 20, forced millions to breathe ash from orange-tinted skies that are blocking out the sun, and seen hundreds of thousands of people flee their homes.

Climate activists say the tepid political response, particularly from the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is yet another sign that US politicians are far from ready to take concrete steps to deal with the realities of climate change, let alone write laws to stop burning fossil fuels in order to slow its effects.

Another four years of Trump in office would devastate the international climate movement, but even a Democratic-controlled government is not guaranteed to substantially address the crisis.

Last week, Pelosi barely mentioned the fires, which are ravaging her own home state of California, until Thursday, when she was asked about them on MSNBC and in a weekly press conference.

Donald Trump will visit California on Monday, the White House confirmed. The president has been largely quiet about the fires burning across the west - he tweeted about the fires once, yesterday, and has not addressed the crisis in public appearance.

The president approved funding for Oregon on Thursday and for California in August, but he has largely avoided discussing the crisis. In the past, he has siezed on the fires t ocriticise Democratic state leaders, and made unscientific claims that the situation could be solved with more raking.

Fires blanket west in smoke

The air quality remains unhealthy across swathes of the West, even in areas out of the direct path of fires.

The hazy air is especially dangerous for those with respiratory conditions, who are already at heightened risk for complications from Covid-19, but experts recommend that everyone limit their time outdoors.

The unhealthy air sweets from southwestern Canada, all the way through Washington, Oregon, California, and even northern Mexico, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In some areas, the smoke has cast a blood orange din. California’s Fire agency assured residents in Monterey, who might see yellow and orange skies due to smoke in the atmosphere, that the ghastly light was no reason spooked, reminding people to call 911 only if they see fire.

Updated

Opinion: We call them wildfires, but that might not be the right word any more.

Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano, the authors of Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy, explain:

In recent days, at least five whole towns have been destroyed by fire in Oregon. So has much of Malden, Washington, and swathes of Big Creek and Berry Creek, both in California.

To many people this will seem like deja vu. In 2018, another town was also wiped off the map, in the most dramatic recent example of this horrible genre. Paradise, California, was much larger, home to 27,000, and it was destroyed in just a few hours. Eighty-five people were killed.

The places now being ravaged are not forests or chaparral located somewhere out there, in the wilds. Instead the current wildfires demonstrate how easy it has become for fires to invade our suburbs and towns, with their 7-11s, gas stations and doctors’ offices, and lay them to waste. Where will this end? The prospects are disturbing.

At least half a million people in Oregon, a tenth of the state’s population, were under some type of evacuation orders by Thursday evening, with fires forcing the evacuation of large parts of Clackamas county, the Portland metropolitan area’s south-easternmost segment.

Oregon governor Kate Brown on Friday corrected a statement by the state Office of Emergency Management that said half a million people had been ordered to flee, and said more than 40,000 had been evacuated and about 500,000 had either been told to leave their homes or to prepare to do so.

Shyanne Summers, of Dickie Prairie, a hamlet south-east of Molalla, had also been evacuated twice as the area of fire danger expanded on Thursday.

Summers and her boyfriend, David Pla, were camped out across a complex of three tents with Kristopher Smith and Sidney Vandenbroeder, another young couple who had fled the area around Molalla.

Also sharing the accommodations were four cats, including a playful ginger kitten, and two small dogs. (Pla, who lives in Madras but drove over Mt Hood to help Summers evacuate, remarked that she had brought “all of the animals except the horse”, which remained in Dickey Prairie.)

Summers was living in the same house as her grandmother and great-grandmother, who were now staying with other relatives in Milwaukie.

When they evacuated on Wednesday the smoke was so thick that “you could hardly see from me to you”, she said, indicating visibility of around 6ft.

Summers said she had almost fainted as she was packing her things to leave. “I’ve never been so afraid,” she said.

A segment from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, during which he falsely cases climate science as misinformation, and rips out of context a climate scientists’ words, has drawn heavy criticism.

Carlson complains that those who are discussing the role of climate change in driving the fires, “don’t explain how exactly that happens”. He also twists the words of Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist.

In statements to news media, including The Guardian, Swain explained that it’s difficult to link climate change the rare lightning storm in August that sparked what have grown into some of the biggest blazes in California history.

Disentangling the weather from climate change is tough. But Swain and other climate scientists are clear: Global heating is increasing the risk of more extreme, catastrophic fires.

In August, Swain told the Guardian “latent potential for more extreme fires lurking there and getting worse with each warmer year.”

A 2019 study found that from 1972 to 2018, California saw a fivefold increase in the area burned in any given year – and an eightfold increase in the area burned by summer fires. Another study estimates that without human-caused climate change, the area that burned between 1984 and 2015 would have been half of what it was. And a research paper published last month suggests that the number of autumn days with “extreme fire weather” – when the risk of wildfires is particularly high – has doubled over the past two decades. “Our climate model analyses suggest that continued climate change will further amplify the number of days with extreme fire weather by the end of this century,” the researchers write.

Recently, Chris Field, the director of the Stanford Woods Institute fo the Environment said: “Each fire has a particular ignition, a particular context. But when you step back, a more consistent pattern emerges.” The climate crisis has increased the risks of large, extreme fires, he said, heating and drying the landscape so it’s primed for catastrophe.”

Read more about what’s driving the fires here.

Updated

The Guardian spoke with half a dozen climate scientists, fire ecologists, forest officials and Indigenous fire practitioners about the fires in California, Oregon and Washington this week. They described the situation as alarming, but unsurprising.

“There’s so much death and destruction – and we know what we need to be doing to stop it, but we’re not doing it,” said Don Hankins, a pyrogeographer and Plains Miwok fire expert at California State University, Chico.

The scientists agreed that underlying the megafires are two human-caused catastrophes: the climate crisis and a century of fire suppression.

Read more about the fires staggering size, what caused them, and what we can do to avoid similar crises in the future:

Smoke blanketed California on Saturday from the Bay Area in the north to Los Angeles in the south. Forecasters expect the conditions to continue over the weekend, and authorities urged residents to stay indoors and avoid strenuous exercise.

A growing body of scientific evidence paints a dire picture of the effects of wildfire smoke on people, even those living hundreds of miles away.

As Guardian reporter Erin McCormick recently wrote: “Fire smoke is a volatile mixture of gases that can contain hundreds of different toxins, depending on the heat of the fire, the wind conditions and the composition of what is burning – whether it is trees, grasses or houses filled with plastics and manmade chemicals. The spray of very fine particles – known as PM2.5 – that wildfires launch into the air causes the biggest concerns. These particles are small enough to be inhaled through the lungs, where they can cause disruptions to health that are just beginning to be fully understood.”

The smoke is helping firefighting efforts, however. In California, where firefighters are battling the massive North Complex fire, smoke blocked out the sun and lowered previously scorching temperatures.

Downtown Los Angeles and the Dodger Stadium shrouded in smoke
Downtown Los Angeles and the Dodger Stadium shrouded in smoke Photograph: Keith Birmingham/AP

The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano was in Oroville, California, on Friday. A handful of evacuees from the North Complex sought refuge at the town’s Home Depot store. Some slept in their cars earlier in the week and several RVs remained in the parking lot.

Rob Williams, who lost his home in Paradise in 2018, evacuated from the North Complex fire late Tuesday night with his wife, dog and cat. They considered staying but could see the nearby hills glowing with flames. The couple packed up their camper, forced to leave behind their goats and chickens, and fled to the large parking lot of the Home Depot where staff welcomed evacuees with bottles of water.

With a camper, the couple can at least be comfortable, Williams says. “You can close your eyes and pretended you’re in the redwoods.”

It’s the second time he’s camped in a Home Depot parking lot after escaping a fire in two years. He’d leave the state, but his grandchild in Butte County keeps him here. And fires, he says, are “just part of life now.”

“Where are you go gonna now?” He asks. “Idaho is on fire. Oregon is on fire. Back East they have tornadoes.”

Lighter winds and rising humidity overnight helped efforts to tackle massive wildfires in Oregon on Saturday. But the state has been hit hard by the infernos. At least eight people are confirmed dead, and scores remain missing.

Photos taken on Friday afternoon documented the devastating destruction.

An aerial view from a drone show the remnants of a mobile home park in Ashland. Hundreds of homes in Ashland and nearby towns were lost in the fire
An aerial view from a drone shows the remnants of a mobile home park in Ashland. Hundreds of homes in Ashland and nearby towns were lost in the fire Photograph: David Ryder/Getty Images
A charred vehicle stands in the parking lot of the burned Oak Park Motel in Gates, after the passage of the Santiam Fire
A charred vehicle stands in the parking lot of the burned Oak Park Motel in Gates, after the passage of the Santiam Fire Photograph: Kathryn Elsesser/AFP/Getty Images
An aerial view from a drone shows a mobile home park in Phoenix. Hundreds of homes in the town were lost due to wildfire
An aerial view from a drone shows a mobile home park in Phoenix. Hundreds of homes in the town were lost due to wildfire Photograph: David Ryder/Getty Images
Talent resident Kevin Jantzer took this photo of the destruction in his hometown, which is located in central Oregon
Talent resident Kevin Jantzer took this photo of the destruction in his hometown, which is located in central Oregon Photograph: Kevin Jantzer/AP

Good morning ...

… and welcome to our continuing coverage of the deadly wildfires on the US west coast, in California, Oregon and Washington state.

Our latest news report is here.

In summary, historic fires are raging in the western US, with at least 23 people believed to have been killed so far. The worst-affected states are California, Washington and Oregon, a state that has never seen uncontained fires on this scale and where 10% of the population is under evacuation order.

Meanwhile in California, which has faced weeks of raging fires, Governor Gavin Newsom has made a number of urgent appeals for action on the climate crisis, including on Friday while visiting the scene of the North Complex fire near the northern California city of Oroville:

It is here now. California, folks, is America fast forward. What we’re experiencing right there is coming to a community all across America unless we get our act together on climate change

Much more to come, so stay tuned.

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