Wildfires across the West Coast have consumed more than three million acres in California, burned almost a million acres in Oregon and destroyed entire towns in Washington as they continued to spread on Friday. In Oregon, 500,000 residents were under evacuation orders, and dozens of people were reported missing, as a record-setting fire season continued.
In California, hundreds of fires blazed across the state, including in the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California and Fresno in the central part of the state, as well as areas near Los Angeles and in Silicon Valley. California’s firefighting forces have been stretched thin, preventing them from sending teams to Oregon, where a number of blazes, including the Almeda Fire, have caused extensive damage.
Facing a historic year of wildfire destruction along the West Coast, including more than three million acres consumed in California, the national emergency systems that rely on state-to-state assistance have been buckling under the strain. That has left emergency responders struggling to keep pace with fires that have destroyed entire towns and led to at least 15 deaths, with seven more people found dead on Thursday as a result of a fire north of Sacramento.
“If you are in denial about climate change, come to California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said last month.
Table Of Contents
Friday, Sept. 11
The Bobcat Fire burning trees in the Angeles National Forest near Monrovia, Calif.
A firefighter walked along a ridge covered with red fire retardant dropped by an air tanker during the Bobcat Fire.
Personnel from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office searching a mobile home park in Ashland, Ore., for a missing older resident.
Smoke filled the sky over a fire-ravaged property in Pine Ridge, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Evacuees set up tents and recreational vehicles at an evacuation center in Oak Grove, Ore., for residents displaced by fires in Clackamas County.
Donated supplies in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Clackamas, Ore.
A firefighter in the smoke of the Northern Complex West Zone Fire near Oroville, Calif.
Firefighters at the Northern Complex West Zone Fire near Oroville, Calif., early Friday.
Thursday, Sept. 10
The Vallecito Crew 1, a team of inmate firefighters, battling the Northern Complex West Zone Fire.
The Bobcat Fire consuming fallen trees in the Angeles National Forest north of Monrovia, Calif.
The Bobcat Fire spread across a mountainside in the Angeles National Forest.
A spot fire smoldered near what had been a lumber yard in Molalla, Ore.
Smoke filled the sky above cows in Molalla, Ore.
National Guard soldiers cut a fire line on the Northern Complex West Zone fire near Feather Falls, Calif.
Firefighters working to contain the Bear Fire, which was renamed the Northern Complex West Zone Fire, in Oroville, Calif.
Damaged homes and cars in a mobile home park in Phoenix, Ore., where hundreds of homes were lost in the fires.
A Cal Fire firefighter managing a burn on the Bear Fire.
Firefighters hosed down the edge of the Bear Fire.
California Conservation Corps firefighters burned the area near a fireline in the Bear Fire.
Sean Mann, 15, evacuated from Beavercreek, Ore., in Clackamas County on Wednesday with 14 horses, six dogs, and 10 people. Though they weren’t yet under an evacuation order, they didn’t want to be evacuating in the middle of the night.
Heather Marshall spoke to her mother as she stood by the ruins of her home at Coleman Creek Estates mobile home park in Phoenix, Ore.
Wednesday, Sept. 9
Cars evacuating north along Highway 213 near Oregon City, Ore.
Residents watched as smoke and fire overtook a hill near the town of Medford, Ore.
Security officials surveying the Bear Lakes Estates neighborhood, which was devastated by the Almeda Fire in Phoenix, Ore.
Houses and vehicles in the Bear Lakes Estates neighborhood were destroyed completely.
Melted aluminum leaked from the engine of a car burned in the Bear Fire near Berry Creek, Calif.
Golfers at a country club in Napa, Calif., watched as smoke from the Bear Fire filled the sky.
Flames overtook a fire truck near Oroville, Calif.
A hiker in Concord, Calif., walked below an orange sky filled with wildfire smoke.
Flames engulfed a home caught in the Bear Fire in Berry Creek, Calif.
Inmate firefighters waited on the Enterprise Bridge in Butte County, in North Central California.
A view of Lake Oroville after the Bear Fire burned through on Wednesday.
A view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and city skyline as bright orange skies from smoke and ash in the air covered the region on Wednesday.
Bikers on Market Street in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday Morning.
Deep orange skies shrouded San Francisco and the surrounding region on Wednesday.
Tuesday, Sept. 8
A smoke-darkened sky in Salem, Ore., around 5 p.m., well before sunset on Tuesday.
Smoke filled the sky over Salem, Ore.
The remains of a power line along Auberry Road in Fresno County, Calif., that was destroyed in the Creek Fire.
The charred remains of a home in Fresno County.
Monday, Sept. 7
Thick smoke appeared near Yucaipa, Calif., as the El Dorado wildfire continued. More than 20,000 people were evacuated because of the blaze.
Nick Grinstead battling the Creek Fire in the Shaver Lake community of Fresno County, Calif.
A firefighter battling the Creek Fire as it threatened homes in Mariposa County, Calif.
The Creek Fire burned along a hillside in the Cascadel Woods community of Madera County, Calif.