Largest active wildfire in the US burns in Oregon, forcing evacuations and creating its own weather
The fire has exploded in size amid high temperatures, extremely dry vegetation and strong winds, growing tens of thousands of acres since Sunday.
The Durkee Fire is the largest active wildfire in the US, and this is an image of the fire burning in eastern Oregon taken by the Oregon Department of Transportation on July 22. (Photo credit: Oregon Department of Transportation/AP via CNN Newsource)
(CNN) — A lightning-sparked wildfire raging in eastern Oregon has scorched nearly 270,000 acres, making it the largest active wildfire in the United States.
The Durkee Fire – which has already burned an area larger than the entire city of Indianapolis – started over a week ago on July 17 near the Oregon-Idaho state line and was still 0% contained as of Thursday morning.
The fire has exploded in size amid high temperatures, extremely dry vegetation and strong winds, growing tens of thousands of acres since Sunday.
The massive blaze is the largest of 31 large wildfires currently burning across Oregon, which has been the hardest hit by fires in recent days. Nationwide, nearly 80 large active fires are burning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said she has deployed resources from the National Guard to help fight the fires and called it a “dynamic situation.”
“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”
Three people were injured and two homes and 12 other structures were destroyed as the Durkee Fire spread, according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management.
Officials in Malheur County and the Baker County have issued evacuations for areas around the Durkee Fire. Meanwhile, dense smoke from the Durkee Fire impeded traffic on Interstate 84, leading to periodic closure of the freeway.
More than 500 firefighters and resources from 22 states are working to fight the fire, according to InciWeb.
“We have been at this for a number of days, and those days just seem to keep getting harder and harder with the weather that we’re seeing in our area and the intense fire behavior,” Sarah Sherman of the Bureau of Land Management said in a video update.
Over the weekend and earlier this week, the Durkee Fire exhibited extreme fire behavior, even creating it’s own weather in the form of pyrocumulus clouds.
The clouds form over heat sources due to the intense, upward vertical motion of air cooling and condensing as it moves higher into the sky. They can reach heights of 50,000 feet and generate their own systems of thunderstorms.
If fires burn hot enough, they can create clouds that produce lighting and rain, called pyrocumulonimbus.
“Over the last week, firefighters have been challenged by hot temperatures and gusty winds that continue to push several wildfires across the state,” the Oregon State Fire Marshal said.
Wildfires have claimed thousands of acres this year already and many residents have had to evacuate at a moment’s notice. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for an evacuation.
Wildfire smoke, including from the Durkee Fire in Oregon, was spreading into Boise and beyond. Air quality alerts have been issued for parts of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Patrick Nauman, the owner of Weiser Classic Candy in the small town of Weiser, Idaho, told the Associated Press that driving into town Wednesday morning was “like driving into a fog bank, because it’s so thick and low to the road.”
“Yesterday you could smell it, taste it, it just kind of hung in the back of your throat,” Nauman said of the smoke.
A cold front has moved through the area Thursday morning, bringing high temperatures to the 80s on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. A red flag warning, which indicates increased risk of fire danger, has expired.
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