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Sounds horrible! pb
‘Like A Bomb’ – Winds Fuel Destructive Northwest Blazes
Wildfires fanned by high winds burned hundreds of thousands of acres in the Northwest, mostly destroying a small town in eastern Washington state and causing evacuations, power outages and highway closures in Oregon.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday more than 330,000 acres (133,546 hectares) burned in Washington in a 24-hour period – more than burns in most entire fire seasons.
“It’s an unprecedented and heart-breaking event,″ Inslee said at a news conference, blaming heat, high winds and low humidity for the explosive growth of fires. “The list of fires is long.″
Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said thousands of people were impacted by the fires, but there appeared to be no deaths or injuries.
“As of this morning, we have 9 large fires,″ Franz tweeted. “We had 58 new wildfire starts in the last 24 hours.″
Franz said the high winds grounded many firefighting airplanes and helicopters on Monday, making it impossible to knock down fires when they were small.
The high winds and dry fuels in the Northwest are similar to conditions in California, where thousands of firefighters are battling dozens of fires around the state.
In Oregon, thousands of people were without power as crews battled large fires in Clackamas County on Tuesday morning. Some people were told to evacuate. Over 40,000 people south of Portland were without power.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown approved an emergency conflagration declaration that freed up state resources for several wildfires that exceed the capabilities of local crews. At a news conference she said initial reports show some blazes may have been caused by downed power lines.
“This is proving to be an unprecedented and significant fire event for our state, and frankly for the entire West Coast,” Brown said.
The Lions Head fire in north-central Oregon and the Santiam Canyon fire east of Salem had burned 200,00 (80,930 hectares) acres so far, Brown said.
Fire officials said their priority is evacuating people and protecting lives. As winds shift and slow Thursday, they hope to take a more “offensive approach” and assess damage.
Authorities evacuated three prisons in Salem due to wildfire threats, sending about 1,400 inmates to the Oregon State Penitentiary.
During the last two weeks there have been 3,000 firefighters on the ground fighting blazes in Oregon.
A grass fire in Ashland in southern Oregon closed down a section of Interstate 5, the main north-south freeway along the West Coast.
In Marion County, which includes the state capital of Salem, a blaze prompted evacuation orders Tuesday in the western foothills of the Cascade Range.
https://www.kxl.com/like-a-bomb-winds-fuel-destructive-northwest-blazes/