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Oregon firefighters reported good progress in tackling the nation’s largest wildfire, while officials canceled evacuation orders near a major blaze in northern California.
Containment of the Bootleg fire in remote southern Oregon was up to 74% on Sunday. It was 56% contained a day earlier.
“This reflects several good days of field work where teams were able to reinforce and build additional containment lines,” firefighter spokesman Al Nash said.
The fire has burned more than 646 square miles since it was started by lightning on July 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.
The Dixie Fire in California covered nearly 383 square miles of mountains where 42 homes and other buildings were destroyed.
It was 32% contained on Sunday, and evacuation orders and warnings were lifted for several remote areas in Butte and Plumas counties. But authorities have warned that with unpredictable winds and extremely dry fuels, the risk of flare-ups remains high.
The cause of the fire on July 13 was still under investigation.
Overall, nearly 22,000 firefighters and support personnel were battling 91 large active wildfires covering 2,813 square miles in most western states, the National Interagency Fire Center said.
In Montana, a blast caused by the wind destroyed more than a dozen homes, outbuildings and other structures, authorities said on Sunday. Evacuations were ordered after flames blasted off a highway and headed for communities near Flathead Lake in the state’s northwest.
Crews also fought major fires in northeast Washington and northern Idaho.
A historic drought and heat waves linked to climate change have made wildfires more difficult to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much hotter and drier over the past 30 years and will continue to make weather conditions more extreme and forest fires more frequent and destructive.
The US Drought Monitor reported last week that although a strong monsoon brought rainfall to the southwest, extremely dry conditions persist in northern California and the northwest, where there has been a expansion of “exceptional drought”, the worst category.
Many parts of the west and midwest were under air quality alert Sunday as smoke from wildfires lingered over much of the country.
Alerts were in place across much of the northern Rockies, including parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Washington state and Idaho. Further east, smoke from fires burning in Canada has triggered pollution alerts in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
Forest fires emit huge volumes of microscopic smoke particles which researchers believe can be harmful if inhaled and have both immediate and long-term health effects. Children, the elderly, and people with underlying health conditions are particularly at risk.
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