Bootleg Fire: They dodged flames driven by 30 mph winds. Crews in Oregon are still trying to tame the wildfire

[ad_1]

“We had a crown fire running, which means the fire got to the top of the trees and was pushed out by the winds” moving at 30 miles per hour, firefighter Eric West told CNN. “We all had to use escape routes and retreat to a safe area.”

West and other firefighters spoke with CNN crew in southern Oregon Thursday about the risks of fighting the Bootleg Fire, which has consumed more than 400,000 acres and turned into the largest active fire in the country since July 6.

Bushfire growth slowed late this week, due in part to a change in humidity and lighter winds, and was contained 40% by Friday morning, according to InciWeb, a US clearinghouse for wildfire information.

But the dry woods and grass have to be feeding the fire for some time yet, and the firefighters won’t enjoy what could happen when the winds return.

“The fires often pushed us back,” West said of the fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, east of Medford.

West and his crew were in an area where they needed to clean up the fire spot on Thursday. Another firefighter there, Dixon Wesley Jones, told CNN he was in a situation where he had to back out as well about a week ago.

“It looks like a train, almost,” he said of the incoming flames. “It feels like something is crashing in the woods.”

Adding to the firefighters’ anxiety in recent days: that the fire was so large and volatile, that it was creating a weather of its own, it formed pyrocumulus clouds, which arose when the intense heat from the flames from the bushfires prompted the air to rise rapidly, condensing and cooling. Any moisture on the smoke particles from the fire.

These clouds can act like thunderstorms, with lightning and strong winds – and they can put firefighters in danger on the way.

“It’s collapsing, but it’s breaking up much more violently than a typical rainstorm, and the winds are going straight down toward the ground,” said Bootleg Fire Incident Manager Jo Tun. “The wind goes in every direction, and it can be 30, 40, 50 miles per hour.”

This prompted the flames to bypass containment lines during the fire, and firefighters were sent to safety areas and “starting a new plan.”

“I’ve never ever set fire to pyrocumulus developments and it has collapsed like this,” Tun said.

More than 80 major fires burning in the United States

The climate crisis has made the deadliest and most destructive wildfires the new normal. Oregon Governor Kate Brown cited recent fires, ice storms, unprecedented high temperatures and drought emergencies as evidence that climate change is affecting her state. The Bootleg Fire was one of 83 large fires that burned in 13 states on Friday, according to the Interagency National Fire Center. Together, they have destroyed 1.36 million acres of US land, and nearly 22,000 firefighters and support personnel have assembled to fight them, according to the Interagency National Fire Center.

Idaho is home to the most large fires, with 23 fires; Montana followed with 17.

Hundreds more fires have been burning in the Canadian province of British Columbia, where a state of emergency was declared this week.

CNN’s Aya Amroussi contributed to this report.

.

[ad_2]