Crews make progress on Oregon wildfire
OREGON: The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday, but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California.
In Montana, five firefighters remained hospitalised a day ater a thunderstorm and swirling winds blew a lightning-caused wildfire back on them, federal officials said.
The five had joined other crews working on the 525-hectare Devil’s Creek fire burning in rough, steep terrain near the rural town of Jordan.
The firefighters were building a defensive line on Thursday when the weather shited, Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Mark Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen declined to release the extent of the firefighters’ injuries but said they were still being evaluated and treated Friday. The firefighters included three US Fish and Wildlife Service crew members from North Dakota and two USDA Forest Service firefighters from New Mexico.
The blaze is among a number burning across the US West, where extremely dry conditions and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight.
In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire has destroyed an area half the size of Rhode Island.
It was 40 per cent surrounded ater burning some 70 homes, mainly cabins, fire officials said. At least 2,000 homes were ordered evacuated at some point during the fire, and an additional 5,000 were threatened.
The upper eastern edge of the fire continued to move toward Summer Lake, jumping fire lines Thursday and prompting an evacuation order for some portions of Lake County to be raised to “Go now!” fire officials said.
Winds up to 16kph could drive the flames through timber but not at the pace seen last week, when the wind-driven blaze grew exponentially, fire information officer Angela Goldman said.
The fire, which was ignited by lightning, had been expanding by up to 6km a day, pushed by strong winds and critically dry weather.
There was good news on the lower portion of the 1,619 sq km blaze.
Crews had locked in containment lines and on the lower southeastern side, they were able to gain a substantial foothold, allowing them to cut back to nightime patrols from what had been a “24-7 run-and-gun” fight, fire information officer Sarah Gracey said.