- Title: Western wildfire rages as smoke causes cross-country air pollution
- Date: 21st July 2021
- Summary: NEAR PAISLEY, OREGON, UNITED STATES (JULY 20, 2021) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT SHOWING DAMAGED SIGN AMID BURNT OUT TREES WIDE SHOT OF BURNING TREES ON GROUND AS SMOKE RISES IN FOREST MEDIUM SHOT OF BURNING TREES ON GROUND SMOKE RISING FROM GROUND AMID BURNT TREES WIDE SHOT OF FIRES AMID TREES IN FOREST SMOKE RISING AMID TREE TOPS TREES BURNING ON GROUND FIRE BURNING IN FOREST AMID TREES SMOKE RISING FROM DEBRIS ON GROUND FIRE BURNING AMID TREES IN FOREST FIRE BURNING ON PIECES OF TREE ON GROUND SMOKE COVERING FOREST WITH FIRES BURNING ON GROUND SMOKE STAINED NATIONAL FOREST SIGN IN FOREGROUND OF BURNT OUT FOREST
- Embargoed: 4th August 2021 02:24
- Keywords: Bootleg Fire Oregon fire smoke wildfires
- Location: NEAR PAISLEY, OREGON, UNITED STATES
- City: NEAR PAISLEY, OREGON, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States,Wildfires/Forest Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA001EMS98P3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Wildfires raging across the western United States and Canada, including a "monster" two-week-old blaze in Oregon, on Tuesday (July 20) belched smoke and soot that gusted eastward and caused harmful air pollution as far away as New York City.
The Bootleg blaze has blackened 388,600 acres (157,260 hectares) of desiccated brush and timber in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest, about 250 miles (402 kilometers) south of Portland, since erupting July 6. Only three other Oregon wildfires over the past century have burned more territory.
As of Tuesday, an army of some 2,200 personnel had managed to carve containment lines around 30 percent of the fire's periphery, while the blaze expanded farther to the east and north.
Incident commander Rob Allen said in his daily report that tinder-dry fuels within the fire zone would "continue to burn and produce smoke for weeks."
"Fighting this fire is a marathon, not a sprint," Allen wrote. "We're in this for as long as it takes to safely contain this monster."
At least 67 homes have been destroyed and another 3,400 were listed as threatened, with an estimated 2,100 people under orders to evacuate or be ready to flee at a moment's notice.
The western conflagrations, marking a heavier-than-normal start of the wildfire season, have coincided with record-shattering heat that has baked much of the region in recent weeks and caused hundreds of deaths.
Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires are largely attributable to prolonged drought and increasing bouts of excessive heat that are symptomatic of climate change.
The Bootleg fire is so large that it has at times generated its own weather - towering pyrocumulus clouds of condensed moisture sucked up through the fire's smoke column from burned vegetation and the surrounding air. These clouds can spawn lightning storms and high winds capable igniting new fires and spreading the flames
(Video: David Ryder; Production: Deborah Lutterbeck) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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