Over 14,200 wildland firefighters and support personnel were battling nearly 70 fires across multiple Western states as of Tuesday afternoon as an unrelenting heatwave and drought turned many areas into a tinder box.
And in Oregon, the Bootleg Fire, the largest in the nation, has incinerated more than 201,000 acres of the Fremont-Winema National Forest in southern Oregon near the California border., officials said Tuesday, reports CBS News.
The blaze had spread over 315 sq miles, an area larger than New York City. Firefighters for a third day had to back off occasionally for safety and “weather isn’t going to change for the foreseeable future”, said Rob Allen, an incident commander.
The Bootleg Fire started in Klamath County on July 6, forcing officials to place more than 100 homes under mandatory evacuation orders, according to USA Today. The fire has also disrupted service on three transmission lines providing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to California.
By Tuesday, the Bootleg Fire has destroyed 54 structures and 21 homes, according to CBS affiliate KOIN. The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
As of Tuesday night, KOIN is reporting that three other fires are burning across Oregon – the Jack Fire in Douglas County, the Grandview Fire near Oregon’s Crooked River National Grassland, and the Bruler Fire near Detroit.
Wildfires rage across the West
As the record-breaking heatwave and drought continues, eight fires are raging in California. Blazes are also burning in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, and Alaska.
The Beckwith Complex fire in Northern California is now 66 percent contained after charring over 90,000 acres as of Tuesday night. Firefighters spent days of battling flames fueled by winds, hot weather, and low humidity.
California has already seen twice as many acres burned this year than the total number of acres burned in 2020, considered the worst fire season in the state’s history.
