By: Julia Chew

On July 21, 2024, over half million people in the Pacific Northwest were faced with critical fire danger warnings as heat waves, strong winds, and potential lightning strikes threatened the region.

The factors that contributed to dangerous wildfires last Sunday, caused 621,000 acres to burn across the states of Oregon and Washington, with firefighters still battling with the flames.

The lightning and dry conditions could result in “numerous fire starts,” and winds from the storms could cause “erratic fire spread,” the Weather Service said. The wind alone pushed the Durkee Fire, which started July 17, about 5 miles southwest of Durkee, Oregon, to 173,758 acres. The fire, caused by lightning, is still 0% contained. The Bonita fire, started July 11, 9 miles southeast of Ironside, Oregon, meanwhile, has been 90% contained across the 2,727 acres that it spread. It was human caused and minimal fire behavior has been observed due to suppression efforts, containment features, and fuel consumption. Fuel consumption is defined as the predicted amount of fuel consumed by the fire both on the forest floor and in the crowns of trees. Fire warnings persist today, due to lightning. Experts say that the heat could cause major health problems for people who cannot rehydrate.

“Our firefighters are working extremely hard to protect communities that are threatened by wildfires,” Mr. John Hendricks, a spokesman for the Oregon State Fire Marshal said. “And we’re asking Oregonians to help us out by doing everything that they can to avoid sparking a human-caused fire.”

Link to articles
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/21/us/wildfires-lightning-oregon-washington.html
https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/regional/durkee-cow-valley-bonita-fires-monday/article_cf6cec5c-484b-11ef-b175-fb495896cd2c.html

Image Credit by Pixabay