The situation continues to worsen in the face of the fires ravaging the western United States.
Seven people have died in Butte County, northern California, bringing the region's death toll to 10.
In total, the fires have already killed at least 15 people in this state and in neighboring Oregon as well as in Washington state, which borders Canada.
The authorities fear that the toll will worsen in the coming days because the current fires are of an unprecedented scale throughout the west coast and because some areas remain difficult to access.
Records of surfaces concerned
Half a million people were evacuated in Oregon Thursday.
"About 500,000 residents of Oregon have been evacuated and this number continues to rise," according to a statement from state officials.
They said that firefighters are fighting against forest fires that extend over 365,000 hectares in the state, which is "a record".
VIDEO. San Francisco plunged under a red sky because of the fires
In northwestern California, the fire dubbed "August Complex Fire", an assembly of 37 fires that affected the Mendocino Forest from August 17, officially became the largest in history in this state on Thursday. , with more than 190,000 hectares.
In Oregon, where at least five cities have been "significantly destroyed," Governor Kate Brown said that in just three days, the flames have consumed double the vegetation that burns on average in a year. .
In Molalla, one of many towns south of Portland threatened by fires, police went door-to-door on Thursday to urge all residents to vacate the area, as directed.
“This is where my children grew up.
It's at my house.
But the most important thing is that my babies, my husband, my dog, my cat, that all my neighbors are made to safety, ”says one resident.
Drought and strong winds
In California, 29-year-old Tina Rose abandoned her home after seeing the mountain "redden" from the fires.
“We were packing everything up and we could hear the propane tanks exploding.
When we heard the second, we said to ourselves
we have to run in case the fire accelerates
, because you never know.
In California, more than 20 fires are raging and this year the fire has consumed more than 12,500 km2 in the state, a record since these data were collected in 1987.
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More than 200,000 hectares have gone up in smoke in Washington state, according to Governor Jay Inslee.
He denounced the consequences of climate change on Thursday.
"We will not abandon the future of this state in the face of climate change," he said on Twitter.
"I will think about these fires and their impact on our populations when we make our next decisions to fight climate change."
We are not going to surrender the future of this state to climate change.
We are stronger, smarter and more resilient than that.
And I'll be thinking of these fires and the communities they're impacting when we take our next steps to defeat climate change.
https://t.co/HYk0pM9VX8
- Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) September 10, 2020
The governor also paid tribute to the memory of a one-year-old baby found by rescue teams near his severely burned parents who were trying to escape the blaze.
All of these fires are fueled by chronic drought and high winds.
However, these have started to weaken.
