'Unprecedented' Pacific Northwest Fires Burn Hundreds of Homes

Winds gusting to 50 mph (80 kph) fanned dozens of catastrophic wildfires Wednesday across a large swath of Washington state and Oregon that rarely experiences such intense fire activity because of the Pacific Northwest's cool and wet climate. Oregon's governor said hundreds of homes had been destroyed.

Firefighters were struggling to try to contain and douse the blazes and officials in some places were giving residents just minutes to evacuate their homes. The fires trapped firefighters and civilians behind fire lines in Oregon and leveled an entire small town in eastern Washington.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown warned that the devastation could be overwhelming from the fires that exploded Monday during a late-summer wind storm that included gusts of 75 mph (120 kph).

"This could be the greatest loss of human life and property due to wildfire in our state's history," Brown told reporters.

Brown approved an emergency conflagration declaration that freed up state resources for several wildfires that exceed the capabilities of local crews. At a news conference, she said initial reports show some blazes may have been caused by downed power lines.

No fatalities from the region's fires had been confirmed by Wednesday afternoon, but Brown said some communities were substantially, with "hundreds of homes lost."

The scenes were similar to California's terrifying wildfire drama, where residents have fled fires raging unchecked throughout the state.

But Pacific Northwest officials said they did not recall so many destructive fires at once in the areas where they were burning.

Sheriff's deputies, traveling with chain saws in their patrol cars to cut fallen trees blocking roads, went door to door in rural communities 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Portland, telling people to evacuate. Since Tuesday, as many as 16,000 people have been told to abandon their homes.

Fires were burning in seven Oregon counties and rural and suburban homes miles away from Portland, Oregon's largest city, were under preliminary orders to prepare for possible evacuations. Three prisons were evacuated late Tuesday and Brown called the state's blazes unprecedented.

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