Thunderstorms hit Central Oregon with numerous lightning strikes late Thursday afternoon and evening, sparking nearly 20 fires that crews rushed to contain, mostly at small size — one west of Bend thanks to a fortunate air tanker pass — as well as a northern Bend power outage affecting 12,500 Pacific Power customers for three hours.
Continue ReadingBy Rachel Ramirez, CNN When Jessica Roberts heard that a fire ignited roughly 4 miles from where the Camp Fire started in 2018, she was catapulted back to the most traumatic experience of her life. The Dixie Fire is California’s largest active wildfire, having burned more than 240,000 acres of land — an area larger
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More scattered showers have done little to stop increased activity on the more than 413,000-acre Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, but nearly 2,000 firefighters have been able to hold the nation’s largest blaze at 53% contained, officials said Friday.
Continue ReadingBy Kate Sullivan and Ella Nilsen, CNN President Joe Biden said Friday the wildfires intensifying in the West demand “urgent action” as he met with seven Republican and Democratic governors to discuss how states are responding to the wildfires and how the federal government can best assist. “We can’t ignore how the overlapping and intertwined
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The fire cache (supplies) building at the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Klamath-Lake District compound in Klamath Falls was destroyed by a fire early Thursday morning.
Continue ReadingBy Ella Nilsen and Cheri Mossburg, CNN President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with seven governors on Friday to talk about how states are responding to a devastating Western wildfire season — and how the federal government can assist. According to exclusive details shared with CNN, the virtual meeting will last
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SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission last week adopted revisions to a series of administrative rules pertaining to rural lands outside of cities. The new rules create opportunities for counties outside cities to approve short-term and interim sheltering solutions for individuals who have lost their homes or been otherwise displaced by wildfires. These uses are already allowed in urban areas.
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Fire officials expressed concern but not surprise over a quick pickup in fire activity on the 413,000-acre Bootleg Fire, just a day after welcome rain fell on parts of the nation’s largest wildfire.
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More than a half-inch of rain on some parts of the massive, 413,000-acre Bootleg Fire brought welcome relief for fire crews Tuesday, but the fire remains 53% contained and there’s weeks more of containment and mop-up to do, officials said in Wednesday’s update.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The city of Portland plans to prohibit people from camping in forested areas of the city to protect individuals experiencing homelessness and people in nearby homes from potentially deadly wildfires.
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Authorities are hopeful that cool temperatures, increased humidity and isolated showers will help them make more progress against the nation’s largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, but officials also have provided a new, grim tally of over 160 homes lost to the blaze.
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Gov. Kate Brown is urging Oregonians to prepare for emergencies by signing up to receive alerts through Oregon’s new emergency alert notification system, OR-Alert. The system has been fully implemented in 26 counties and is actively being implemented in another eight.
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The battle is far from over, but firefighters have brought the more than 409,000-acre Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon to more than 50% containment, officials said Monday.
Continue ReadingBy Steve Almasy and Dave Alsup, CNN Smoke from the Western wildfires has prompted officials in Montana to issue air quality warnings in a dozen counties. “Air quality across the state ranges from MODERATE to UNHEALTHY, with the worst air quality concentrations occurring in the southern half of the state, south of the I-90 corridor.
Continue ReadingBy Aya Elamroussi and Claire Colbert, CNN Despite the efforts of firefighters battling the Bootleg Fire, the raging flames of the nation’s largest wildfire continued to spread in southern Oregon as officials declared weather warnings in the area. The fire has scorched 408,930 acres as of Sunday, an expansion of more than 6,000 acres since
Continue ReadingBy Dakin Andone, CNN California’s largest wildfire has destroyed multiple buildings and is threatening thousands more as the battle against the blaze stretched into its 12th day. Low moisture in vegetation and limited access in the remote area have hampered firefighters, officials said. The Dixie Fire had grown to 190,625 acres and was 21% contained
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Out-of-state crews are heading to Montana to battle a blaze that injured five firefighters as the West struggles with a series of fires that have ravaged rural lands and destroyed homes.
Continue ReadingBy Sarah Moon and Stella Chan, CNN A massive wildfire raging out of control in the rugged mountains straddling the California-Nevada border, tearing through tens of thousands of acres was initially determined by US Forest Service officials to not be a threat and allowed to burn. The lightning-sparked Tamarack Fire, first discovered on July 4
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Campfires and recreational fires are currently banned in the city of Bend and on all federal lands in Central Oregon.
Continue ReadingBy Jason Hanna and Lucy Kafanov, CNN When crews battling the massive Bootleg Fire saw wind-driven flames race across the treetops, they had one option: retreat. “We had a running crown fire, which means that the fire has reached the top of the trees and being pushed by the wind” moving at 30 mph, firefighter
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