UPDATE (ETH) – Deadly wildfires continue to spread in California, Oregon, and Washington killing at least seven people including a 12-year-old boy and his grandmother. More than 200 fires across 13 states in the West have already chared more than 3.4 million acres which are roughly the size of Connecticut and is still spreading in high winds amid fears that the number of casualties could continue to rise.
‘This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in our state’s history,’ Oregon Gov Kate Brown told a press conference. The fires have consumed entire communities triggering widespread evacuations under apocalyptic orange skies. There is literally ‘smoldering ruins’ remaining of large parts of the town of Talent, Oregon, according to one local resident Sandra Spelliscy.
She said: ‘There are numerous neighborhoods where there are no structures left standing… dozens of homes gone and literally nothing except the skeletons of a chimney or an appliance,’ Tragically a twelve-year-old Wyatt Tofte and his grandmother Peggy Mosso was killed in a blaze in the Santiam Valley community of Lyons, about 50 miles south of Portland with the young man’s mother still in the hospital in critical condition after suffering serious burns.
The infernos are also responsible for the deaths of residents outside of Ashland, Oregon, while in Washington state a one-year-old boy named Uriel was killed and his parents Jake and Jamie Hyland were also severely burned while evacuating a fire in Okanogan County, according to local police.
Meanwhile, three others are feared dead in the California Bear Fire that has swept through Butte County on Tuesday night. The bodies were reportedly discovered on the bank of the Columbia River after they abandoned their car. ‘This fire is just burning at an explosive rate,’ said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for California’s state fire authority.
‘You add the winds, the dry conditions, the hot temperatures, it’s the perfect recipe.’ Multiple other victims have been discovered in California and Oregon. Across the US wildfires have scorched nearly 4.7 million acres in 2020, which is now being said to be the highest year-to-date area since 2018, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
