Firefighters in the US Pacific Northwest have got a helping hand from cooler, damp weather in their battle against an array of deadly wildfires, even as uncooperative winds in Southern California spread another landscape-scorching blaze.
The weather shift on Saturday, which followed intermittently heavy showers last Friday, helped more than 9,000 personnel fight 29 wildfires across Washington and Oregon states, including the Riverside Fire south-east of Portland, the US Forestry Service said.
Firefighters can expect another 5cm to 10cm of rain in the next week for coastal Oregon and parts of the Cascade Mountains, said Mr David Roth, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Centre in College Park, Maryland. "That'll be over the next three to seven days, which should at least help. Something is better than nothing."
But even after the rainfall west of the Cascade Mountains, the fire was still feeding on long-dead vegetation that is abundant in the western wilderness, a fire report read.
"Rain doesn't do much to put out the fire unless we get tons 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 55,847ha and is only 11 per cent contained.
The unusually ferocious wildfires have claimed at least eight lives in Oregon and one in Washington, blackening 650,000ha in both states since Labour Day and incinerating several small towns.
Oregon emergency management officials have warned that the death toll could rise 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 1.3 million ha in California, killing 26 people and destroying over 5,800 structures since mid-August, said the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
A force of more than 19,000 firefighters made headway against the 27 major blazes they have been battling since the previous month as searing temperatures diminished somewhat, the department said. But at least one blaze, the Bobcat Fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, spread rapidly in high winds, leaving more than 36,826ha scorched, it added.
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 in the state early next week are expected to bring elevated fire danger, it said.
REUTERS