Crews were to resume searching for the dead on Sunday among blackened ruins left by massive wildfires that swept through three western US states, burning down millions of acres in weeks, with “mass fatality” feared in Oregon.
A blitz of bushfire across Oregon, California and Washington has destroyed thousands of homes and six small towns this summer, scorching a landscape the size of New Jersey and killing more than two dozen people since early August.
After four days of brutally hot, windy weather, the weekend brought calmer winds blowing inland from the Pacific Ocean, and cooler, moister conditions that helped crews make headway against blazes earlier in the week.
Still, emergency officials worried that the shifting weather might not bring much relief to southern Oregon, where an apocalyptic scene of charred residential subdivisions and trailer parks stretched for miles along Highway 99 south of Medford through the neighboring communities of Phoenix and Talent.
At least 10 people died in Oregon while dozens remained unaccounted for across three counties.
There were 38 actives fires burning in Oregon as of Sunday morning, according to the state’s office of emergency management website.❐
