Worthy Christian News > US News > Deadly wildfires sweep through communities in West Coast states

Deadly wildfires sweep through communities in West Coast states

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Dozens of severe wildfires have killed at least 16 people as of Friday afternoon, and have burned down hundreds of homes in towns on the West Coast, the Epoch Times reports. Over 500,000 people are under evacuation orders in Oregon.

At least 11 people in California and four people in Oregon had been killed in fires by Friday morning. A 12-year-old boy and his dog were found dead in a burned car some 50 miles south of Portland; the boy’s grandmother is also believed to have been killed after the fire took over an area near Lyons, the Epoch Times reported. A one-year-old child was killed in a fire in Washington State.

Oregon has been the most severely affected, with some 3,000 firefighters dealing with around 30 major fires that have blazed through at least five communities. One of the Oregon fires is the subject of a criminal investigation: Ashland Police Chief Tighe O’Meara told reporters that law enforcement officers have reason to believe the Almeda fire close to the border with California has “a human element to it.”

The farming town of Malden in eastern Washington State has been almost completely destroyed by fire. Thousands of people have been displaced in Butte County, California alone, as 2,000 homes and buildings and over 247,000 acres of land were destroyed. Wildfires have burned over a record 3.1 million acres in California this year.
Firefighters said unusually hot, dry winds from the east were spreading fire from community to community, and then from house to house.