Dozens missing in Oregon as historic fires devastate western US
Dozens of people are missing and at least 23 people are believed to have been killed as historic wildfires in the western US forced evacuations, stretched fire crews thin and spawned misinformation.
Residents of Portland, Oregon, awoke on Friday to air thick with smoke pollution that dimmed the sun and turned the skies blood-orange red. Hundreds of firefighters are battling two large wildfires that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
The state’s emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are preparing for a “mass fatality event” and that thousands of structures have been destroyed. Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about half a million people are under some form of evacuation order.
Historic fires are raging in
