Wildfires are ravaging the western US and Canada – prompting thousands of people to evacuate, highway closures and poor air quality to move cities across several states.
In the US, wildfires are raging in Oregon, California and Washington, lighting up the skies with bright orange flames and haze.
In Oregon, the Durkee Fire closed Interstate 84 in the eastern part of the state in both directions on Tuesday between Ontario and Baker City, the state’s main city. Department of Transport said, warning, “The fire is rapidly advancing toward the highway in several locations in the Farewell Bend area.”
The Durkee Fire, the largest current wildfire in Oregon, was discovered on the morning of July 17th, sparked by lightning, and has since burned more than 239,000 acres and as of Wednesday was 0% contained.
Level three evacuations are underway in Baker and Malheur counties due to the Durkee and Cow Valley fires, with the entire city of Huntington, home to about 510 people, under level three evacuation, according to NBC affiliate . KTVB of Boise, Idaho. An estimated 3,472 people are in level 3 evacuation, meaning there is extreme danger and local residents must leave immediately. There are currently 115 active fires in the state, according to the state forest fire tracker.
Meanwhile, in Washington, a fire broke out Monday near Naches and led to mandatory evacuations, another fire near Bickelton also led to evacuations and threatened a natural gas plant, and a fire that sparked Tuesday closed a stretch of U.S. Route 12, according to The Associated Press.
In California, the Apache Fire occurred Tuesday night near Highway 33 and Apache Canyon Road in Ventura County in the Los Padres National Forest. The fire, estimated at 250 acres, prompted the county to order the evacuation of homes on Apache Canyon Road, local firefighters he said.
The US Forest Service said in a statement Tuesday that millions of acres of national forest lands in Oregon and Washington “continue to see record dry timber conditions,” along with lightning storms, which spur the “rapid growth of wildfires.”
Officials said Oregon’s Fremont-Winema and Deschutes national forests have surpassed 75 days without rain, and 45 days without rain “are widespread throughout the Pacific Northwest.”
Adding to the conditions, much of the West has been hit hard by scorching temperatures in a prolonged heat wave in recent months.
“This looks to be another year of monster fires in the Pacific Northwest and it’s only mid-July,” said Ed Hiatt, Pacific Northwest assistant director of fire operations. He said the agency is at Preparedness Level 5 – “the highest possible level of wildfire response in the region and country.”
“Crews, bulldozers, helicopters and incident management teams from across the country are coming to help, including people from as far away as North Carolina and Wisconsin,” Hiatt added.
In Canada, the alpine town of Jasper and the popular Jasper National Park in the province of Alberta were evacuated due to several wildfires that swept through the park.
O critical red alert to evacuate an alert was issued on Monday night about a forest fire south of the city.
“Everyone in Jasper should evacuate now,” the alert said, with orders to clear the city in a matter of five hours by 3 a.m. Tuesday.
In total, around 25,000 people, including park visitors and local residents, fled. About 10,000 people, including seasonal workers, were in Jasper at the time of the alert. Meanwhile, Parks Canada estimated that about 15,000 were in the park, the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, according to the Associated Press.
Evacuees were forced to go to Grande Prairie, Calgary or Edmonton, where reception centers stood by to provide support.
Jasper National Park said in a update tuesday night: “The evacuation of the municipality is complete and the evacuation of hikers from the backcountry is underway.”
The city and park mobilized “all available resources” to support firefighting and protect the city. Efforts include installation of structural protection sprinklers and hoses throughout the community, overhead suppression and a specialized water tank along the train line. Visitors who made reservations by August 6th will be fully refunded, Parks Canada he said.
The park said a wildfire in the north, located between the transfer station and the Jasper airstrip on both sides of Highway 16, burned an estimated minimum area of 270 hectares, or 667 acres, and a wildfire in the south, near Camp Kerkeslin, it burned about 6,750 hectares, or 16,680 acres.
Authorities have not yet said when residents and visitors will be able to return.
Overall, Alberta has 175 active wildfires across the province, according to a government tracker. Alberta’s Emergency Management agency said since Jan. 1 there have been 940 wildfires in the Forest Protection Area, burning more than 535,000 hectares or 1.3 million acres — 56 classified as out of control, 50 as maintained, 61 as under control and 770 extinct. Lightning caused more than half of today’s wildfires, but the other half were caused by people, the agency said.
Smoke from wildfires has brought hazy skies and unhealthy air quality to parts of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado due to wildfire smoke.
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