Western U.S. to face more wildfires over weekend

LOS ANGELES: The extreme drought-hit western United States braced for more wildfire destruction on Friday as efforts to contain a vast blaze scorching southern Oregon failed to progress, and dangerous dry lightning storms were forecast in California.

The Bootleg Fire near Oregon’s border with California grew overnight to 97,124 ha — larger than New York City, and by far the biggest active blaze in the US — while remaining just seven per cent contained.

“The Bootleg Fire perimeter is more than 200 miles long — that’s an enormous amount of line to build and hold,” said firefighter commander Rob Allen.

“We are using every resource, from dozers to air tankers to engage where it’s safe to do so, especially with the hot, dry, windy conditions predicted to worsen over the weekend.”

More evacuations orders were issued on Thursday as firefighters had to withdraw from fast-growing flames and “extreme fire conditions” to the east of the blaze, which began 10 days ago and has grown at 405 ha per hour since.

The fire also poses a risk to neighbouring California’s power supply, threatening to plunge residents into darkness, as has happened in past years when heatwaves strained the state’s grid.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced further reinforcements would be sent to help fight the Oregon blaze, even as California battles its own fires, said the governor’s office’s Emergency Services in a statement.

“Climate change is contributing to wildfires that are increasingly dangerous and destructive across the western US,” it added.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist from the University of California, said the risk of wildfires ignited by dry lightning strikes in California over this weekend was “quite high”.

Last year’s August Complex fire, the largest in modern California history, which destroyed an area the size of Delaware, was triggered by thousands of lightning strikes.

Due to a “long period of unrelenting and frequently recordbreaking heat”, California brush is drier than it would usually be at its August or September peak, said Swain.