BEAVERCREEK, Ore. — Nearly all the dozens of people reported missing after a devastating blaze in southern Oregon have been accounted for, authorities said over the weekend as crews continued to battle the massive wildfires that have killed at least 35 from California to Washington state.
The flames up and down the West Coast have destroyed neighborhoods, leaving nothing but charred rubble and burned-out cars, forced tens of thousands to flee and cast a shroud of smoke that has given Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., some of the worst air quality in the world.
The smoke filled the air with an acrid metallic smell like pennies and spread to nearby states. While making it difficult to breathe, it helped firefighters by blocking the sun and turning the weather cooler as they tried to get a handle on the blazes.
Warnings of low moisture and strong winds that could fan the flames added urgency to the battle. The so-called red flag warnings stretched from hard-hit southern Oregon to Northern California and extended through Monday evening.
Lexi Soulios, her husband and their son were afraid they would have to evacuate for a second time because of the weather. They left their small southern Oregon town of Talent last week when they saw a “big, huge flow of dark smoke coming up,” then went past roadblocks Friday to pick through the charred ruins of their home.
While they are staying farther south in Ashland, known for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she said by text message that the forecast may mean they could be on the move again.
“So this isn’t over yet but we just had the car checked so we feel prepared,” Ms. Soulios wrote.
Authorities last week reported as many as 50 people could be missing after a wildfire in the Ashland area. But the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said late Saturday that four people had died in the blaze and that the number of missing was down to one.
At least 10 people have been killed in the past week throughout Oregon. Officials have said more people are missing from other fires, and the number of fatalities is likely to rise, though they have not said how high the toll could go. Twenty-four people have died in California, and one person has been killed in Washington state.
Air quality across Oregon was listed as “hazardous” or “very unhealthy” by state environmental officials, and a dense smoke advisory from the National Weather Service remained in effect for much of the state until at least 6 p.m. local time Sunday. Similar warnings were in place in Washington state.
The thick haze smothering the landscape has deepened the crisis brought on by the blazes, which officials have linked to at least 10 deaths in Oregon. In Portland, the air quality ranked among the worst in the world, making it potentially life-threatening for people with respiratory problems to venture outside. Even indoors, some residents were left coughing and fighting for breath.
In Michael Warner’s home in the backwoods of Marion County, the smoke was so bad he had to wear a mask inside. Over the weekend, the 50-year-old fled to the Oregon State Fairgrounds to take shelter.
“My throat burns,” Mr. Warner said as he ambled around the evacuation site with his dog, his eyes swollen and watering.
Thomas Keyzers, 36, had hoped that he’d left behind the worst of the smoke when he his wife and their two children, ages 3 and 5, evacuated their home in Happy Valley. But the smoke followed them to Portland, even inside the hotel where they were staying.
He and his wife have been coughing constantly, and it’s getting worse each day. He’s worried about the health of his kids, he said.
“It’s just like a 24-hour campfire,” he said. “You can only take so much of it.”
Officials and health experts urged residents to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary, keep doors and windows closed and use fans and air conditioners to keep air circulating in their homes.
Barbara Rose Bettison, 25, left her farm among the trees and fields of Eagle Creek, outside Portland, when a sheriff’s deputy knocked on her door Tuesday. They drove away on a road that became an ominous dividing line, with blue skies on one side and the other filled with black and brown smoke.
She took shelter at an Elks Lodge near Portland, where evacuees wrapped themselves in blankets and set up tents out back.
“It’s terrifying. We’ve never had any form of natural disaster,” she said.
Ms. Bettison, a UPS driver, was able to get out with her chickens, rabbits and cats. She hasn’t been back, but her neighbors said it is so smoky they can’t see their hands in front of their faces.
“I’m hoping there has not been too much damage because it would break my heart,” she said. “As long as we’re still standing, I think we’ll be OK.”
The Democratic governors of all three states have said the fires are a consequence of climate change, taking aim at President Donald Trump ahead of his visit Monday to California for a fire briefing.
“And it is maddening right now that, when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Aside from a Friday night tweet thanking responders for their work, the president has said little publicly about the blazes that have wiped out entire neighborhoods and towns and destroyed vast tracts of land.
At a speech in Nevada over the weekend, Mr. Trump blamed the fires on poor forest management and boasted about the United States leaving the international climate agreement. He made a similar remark at a rally in August, saying, “You’ve got to clean your floors, you’ve got to clean your forests.”
On Sunday, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., pushed back on Mr. Trump’s characterizations, telling “This Week” that the devastation was the result of a combination of ills, including rising temperatures caused by global climate change.
“It’s just a big and devastating lie,” Mr. Merkley said of Mr. Trump’s statements. “The Cascade snowpacks have gotten smaller. Our forests have gotten drier. Our ocean has gotten warmer and more acidic.” The changes, Mr. Merkley added, are the “consequences of a warming planet.”
“We need to have to have a president follow the science,” he said.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, also accused Mr. Trump of negligence in responding to the fires. In an interview with CNN, he suggested the president was reluctant to help California, Oregon and Washington because they have Democratic governors.
“Leadership at the very top needs to be stronger, earlier,” Mr. Garcetti said, alleging that Mr. Trump’s “blaming of blue states over red states” in how he handles natural disasters hurts the federal response.
“We need leadership that is equal across this country, instead of being partisan and divisive,” Mr. Garcetti said.
Firefighter Steve McAdoo found himself running from one blaze to another in Oregon for six days, seeing buildings burn and trees light up like candles.
“We lost track of time because you can’t see the sun and you’ve been up for so many days,” he said. “Forty-eight to 72 hours nonstop, you feel like you’re in a dream.”
As he and his team battled the blazes, he worried about his wife and daughter at home just miles away. They evacuated safely, but at times, he could communicate with them only in one-word text messages: “Busy.”
Mr. McAdoo and other firefighters got their first real break Sunday to take showers, shave and check their equipment. And though it’s a faint shadow of its usual self, he can finally see the sun.
“It’s nice today to at least see the dot in the sky,” he said.
Whitehurst reported from Portland. The Washington Post contributed.
Updated Sept. 13, 2020, 9:50 p.m.
First Published: September 13, 2020, 8:08 p.m.
