More than 300,000 acres are burning across six states across the western United States on Sunday as the region battled yet another brutal heat wave that shattered records and strained power grids.
The largest, the so-called Bootleg Fire, burned across 143,607 acres in Oregon and was 0% contained. Officials in neighboring state California asked all residents to reduce power consumption quickly after the fire knocked out interstate power lines, preventing up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity from flowing into the state, USA Today reported.
According to the report, the fire in US State of Oregon has prevented 4,000 megawatts of electricity from reaching the state of California. The Oregon Meteorological Service tweeted on Monday that the fire could spread.
Officials expect the blaze to be contained for another 15 days, according to the CNN website. According to the news network, the cause of the fire is still unknown.
“The Bootleg Fire will see the potential for extreme growth today,” the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, said on Twitter, fueled by extreme drought and temperatures near 100 that aren't expected to subside until midweek.
“The fire behavior we are seeing on the Bootleg Fire is among the most extreme you can find and firefighters are seeing conditions they have never seen before," fire incident commander Al Lawson said.
MA/PR