(Reuters) – Firefighters in the Pacific Northwest got a helping hand from cooler, damp weather in their battle against an array of deadly wildfires on Saturday, even as uncooperative winds in Southern California spread another landscape-scorching blaze.
The weather shift, which followed intermittently heavy showers on Friday, helped more than 9,000 personnel fight 29 wildfires across Washington and Oregon, including the Riverside Fire southeast of Portland, the U.S. Forestry Service said.
But even after the rainfall west of the Cascade Mountains, the fire was still feeding on deep layers of long-dead vegetation that is abundant in the western wilderness, it said.
“Rain doesn’t do much to put out the fire unless we get a lot of it,” Incident Commander Alan Sinclair said in a statement. “But the good news is the cool, damp weather is moderating fire activity and giving us a chance to make progress in containment efforts.”
The Riverside Fire has burned nearly 138,000 acres (55,847 hectares) and is only 11% contained,
The unusually ferocious wildfires have claimed at least eight lives in Oregon and one in Washington state, blackening 1.7 million acres (650,000 hectares) in the two states since Labor Day and incinerating several small towns.
Oregon emergency management officials have warned the death toll there could climb as search teams scour the ruins of thousands of homes engulfed in flames during chaotic evacuations early in the disaster.
Thousands of evacuees, particularly in Oregon, have been forced into emergency shelters, mobile trailers and hotel rooms.
To the south, flames have charred a record 3.5 million acres (1.3 million hectares) in California, killing 26 people and destroying more than 5,800 structures since mid-August, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
A force of more than 19,000 firefighters made headway against the 27 major blazes they have been battling since August as searing temperatures diminished somewhat, Cal Fire said.
But at least one blaze, the Bobcat Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, spread rapidly in high winds leaving more than 91,000 acres (36,826 hectares) scorched, it said. The cause of the fire, which has containment lines set up only on 15% of its perimeter, is being investigated, it added.
Winds remain a threat, with forecasts calling for gusts up to 25 mph (40 kph) amid very low humidity, it said.
Despite the moderating temperatures in the south, weather in the northern part of the state is forecast to return to a warm, dry pattern, and warming conditions throughout the state early next week are expected to bring elevated fire danger, it said.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
