Oregon’s Bootleg Fire burns over 150,000 acres as wildfires rage west

The Bootleg fire in southern Oregon nearly doubled from Saturday to Sunday to over 150,000 acres as extreme heat waves and wildfires continued to burn the west.

Intense flames in the Fremont-Winema National Forest erupted on July 6, burning for its sixth day on Sunday, according to an incident report. The out-of-control wildfire was so intense that it forced firefighters to retreat to safe areas and prompted more personnel to be deployed overnight, firefighters said.

Residents in parts of Klamath County were forced to evacuate as the wildfire continued to spread and was 0% contained on Sunday, according to the incident report. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the blaze, but authorities said “the dry weather and extremely dry fuels are contributing to the fire’s extreme behavior.”

The blaze interrupted the power lines that carry electricity from Oregon to California, energy officials said. California lost thousands of megawatts of imported electricity and struggled to maintain its operating reserves as temperatures soared to triple digits in parts of the state.

The Bootleg fire came amid record-breaking wildfires and temperatures ravaging the western states.

The Beckwourth compound fire – the largest wildfire in California – consumed more than 80,000 acres and destroyed about 20 homes on Sunday as it crossed state lines into Nevada.

The wildfire, one of many bushfires burning in California, was 8% contained on Sunday. Federal fire officials have reported progress in fire control on the southern and southwestern flanks.

“Climate change is seen as a key factor” in recent wildfire woes in the state, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said earlier this year.

In Arizona, two firefighters were killed in a plane crash while conducting aerial reconnaissance over the Cedar Basin Fire near the Prescott National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management said in a statement.

Wildfires also ravaged western Idaho and Southeast Washington over the weekend, prompting Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare situations of emergency in their states.