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Out-of-control Bootleg blaze razes 100K acres in Oregon

Deborah Bloom and Steve GormanAAP
A wildfire burning in the US state of Oregon has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.
Camera IconA wildfire burning in the US state of Oregon has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate. Credit: AP

A sprawling wildfire raging mostly unchecked for over a week in southern Oregon has forced firefighters into retreat for a fourth consecutive day as it expands to become the State’s fifth largest blaze in more than a century.

The Bootleg Fire, the biggest among dozens of wildfires flaring across the tinder-dry landscape of the Western United States, has scorched more than 98,000 acres - an area exceeding the land mass of New York City.

The Bootleg blaze has been burning through drought-parched timber and brush in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest since erupting on July 6 near Klamath Falls, about 400 km south of Portland.

The cause is under investigation.

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Western Wildfires
Camera IconThe Bootleg Fire in Oregon is one of dozens burning across the western United States. Credit: AP

Flames have destroyed at least 21 homes and 54 other structures, authorities said. On Friday, the Oregon Department of Forestry listed more than 5000 homes as threatened, about 3000 more than a day earlier.

Strike teams have carved containment lines around seven per cent of the fire’s perimeter. But extreme fire growth fuelled by low humidity, dry vegetation and gusty winds forced firefighters to withdraw from leading edges of the blaze for a fourth consecutive day on Friday, officials said.

Hot, dry, windy conditions were expected to worsen over the weekend, while meteorologists forecast the arrival of yet another major Western heat wave, the fourth since early June.

More than 1900 firefighters and a dozen helicopters as well as aeroplane tankers and bulldozers were assigned to the Bootleg Fire as demand for personnel and equipment across the Pacific Northwest strained available resources.

The Bootleg ranked as the largest by far of 70 major active wildfires listed on Thursday as having burned more than one million acres in 12 states, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, reported.

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Camera IconMore than 1700 firefighters have been assigned to the Bootleg Fire in Portland, Oregon. Credit: AP

It also stood as the fifth-largest on record in Oregon since 1900, according to state forestry figures.

Scientists have said the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires are largely attributable to prolonged drought and increasing bouts of excessive heat that are symptomatic of climate change.

The Bootleg fire is so large that it generates its own weather. Towering pyrocumulus clouds form from condensed moisture that is sucked up through the fire’s smoke column from burned vegetation and the surrounding atmosphere, and can spawn lightning and high winds.

The sudden “collapse” of one such cloud on Friday spread embers to the east of the main fire zone, prompting additional evacuation notices for two communities.

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