At least six people were killed
Wednesday in the wildfires raging in California, Oregon and Washington, which have already devastated dozens of towns and millions of acres in recent weeks.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown said the state had "experienced unprecedented fires with significant damage and devastating consequences in the past 24 hours."
"This could be the largest wildfire loss of life and property in our state's history," Brown said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Image of the fires on the hill across the Bidwell Bar Bridge in Oroville, California;
September 9, 2020.AP
[More than 200 people caught in a fire near a reservoir in California are rescued by helicopter]
Three people were killed in a northern California wildfire that forced thousands of people from their homes.
His charred remains were found in Butte County, where the deadliest fire in state history two years ago killed 85 people.
California Highway Patrol Officer Ben Draper told the Bay Area News Group that
a person was found in a car
and had apparently been trying to escape the flames.
Hundreds if not thousands of homes and other buildings are believed to have been damaged or destroyed by the fire northeast of San Francisco, firefighters said at an overnight news conference.
In Washington state, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said a child had died in one of the state's largest wildfires, the 163.00-acre Cold Springs Fire.
The fire burns midway between Spokane and Seattle.
Franz did not offer details, but said she was devastated by death.
"The pain that the family goes through is unfathomable," he
said.
In Oregon, wildfires burning east of the state capital swept through the small town of Lyons, killing 12-year-old Wyatte Tofte and his grandmother, Peggy Mosso, according to the boy's father, Christopher Tofte.
The boy's mother, Angela Mosso, suffered severe burns and is in critical condition.
Other wildfires charred large swaths in the west, where dry conditions and gusts of wind fueled the flames.
Forecasters predicted that weather conditions in the coming days would help exhausted firefighters contain the fires.
In Washington, more acres were burned in a single day than firefighters typically see burn in an entire year
.
The fires also forced people to flee their homes in Idaho.
Polar winds helped curb wildfires in Colorado and Montana.
With information from NBC News and The Associated Press.