New evacuations as Oregon wildfires spread
Firefighters are scrambling to control a raging blaze in south-eastern Oregon which is spreading miles a day in windy conditions, one of numerous fires across the US West that are straining resources.
Authorities ordered a new round of evacuations on Thursday amid worries that the Bootleg Fire, which has already destroyed 21 homes, could merge with another blaze that also grew explosively amid dry and blustery conditions.
The Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire currently burning in the US, had torched more than 377 square miles by Friday morning and was just 7 per cent contained.
It has stymied firefighters for nearly a week with erratic winds and extremely dangerous behaviour. Early on, the fire doubled in size almost daily and strong winds from the south on Thursday afternoon again pushed the flames rapidly to the north and east.
The fire has the potential to
move four miles or more in an afternoon and there was concern it could merge with the smaller but still explosive Log Fire, said Rob Allen, incident commander for the blaze.
That blaze started on Monday as three smaller fires but exploded to nearly 5,000 acres in 24 hours and was still growing, fanned by the same winds, Mr Allen said.
Firefighters were all pulled back to safe areas late on Thursday and were scouting ahead of the main blaze for areas where they could make a stand by carving out fire lines to stop the inferno's advance, he said.