Wildfires are growing

PORTLAND, Ore. — The nation’s largest wildfire torched more dry forest in Oregon

and forced the evacuation of a wildlife research station Monday as firefighters had to retreat from the flames for the ninth

consecutive day due to erratic and dangerous fire behavior.

Firefighters were forced to pull back as flames, pushed by winds and fueled by bone-dry conditions,

jumped fire-retardant containment lines and pushed up to 4 miles

into new territory, authorities said.

The destructive Bootleg Fire in southcentral Oregon is just

north of the California border and grew to more than 476 square miles (1,210 square kilometers), an area

about the size of Los Angeles.

Fire crews were rushing to corral multiple “slop fires” — patches of flames that

escaped fire lines meant to contain the

blaze — before they grew in size. One of

those smaller fires was already nearly 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) in size. Thunderstorms with dry lightning were possible Monday

as well, heightening the dangers.

“We are running firefighting operations through the day and all through the

night,” said Joe Hessel, incident commander. “

On Monday, the fire reached the southern

edge of Sycan Marsh, a privately owned wetland that hosts thousands of migrating birds and is a key research station on wetland restoration.

The blaze, which was 25% contained, has burned at least 67 homes and 100 buildings while threatening thousands more in a remote landscape of forests, lakes and wildlife refuges.