Oregon firefighter pilot killed in air tanker crash as wildfires spread across US

In short:

A firefighter pilot was found dead in a small air tanker in Oregon on Friday local time.

A Grant County search and rescue team said the plane went missing while battling the Falls Fire raging near the town of Seneca.

Oregon continues to be home to the largest active fire in the United States: the Durkee Fire, which, combined with the Cow Fire, has covered nearly 600 square miles.

A pilot has been found dead in a small air tanker that crashed in eastern Oregon while battling one of the many wildfires burning across the western United States.

A Grant County search and rescue team located the single-engine air tanker Friday morning local time.

The plane went missing while battling the 220-square-mile (567-square-kilometer) Falls Fire near the town of Seneca and the Malheur National Forest.

Lisa Clark, public information officer for the Bureau of Land Management, said the pilot died in the crash.

No one else was on board the plane rented by the office when it crashed into the steep, wooded terrain surrounding it.

More than 110 active fires covering 2,600 square miles (7,250 square kilometers) were burning across the United States on Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The most significant damage so far has been in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, where a fast-moving wildfire forced 25,000 people to flee and devastated the park’s namesake town, a World Heritage Site.

More than 22,800 square kilometres have burned in more than 3,700 fires so far in Canada, according to the national wildfire situation report released Wednesday.

Oregon continues to be home to the largest active fire in the United States: the Durkee Fire, which, combined with the Cow Fire, has covered nearly 600 square miles.

The situation remains unpredictable and was only 20% contained on Friday, according to the government website InciWeb.

The National Interagency Fire Center said more than 27,000 fires have burned more than 15,000 square kilometers in the United States this year.

Lightning sparks wildfires in Idaho

In Idaho, lightning sparked fast-moving wildfires and the evacuation of several communities.(AP: August Frank/Lewiston Tribune)

Some of the fires have been triggered by weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the region endures record heat and extreme drought conditions.

Lightning sparked fast-moving wildfires and the evacuation of several communities in Idaho, including the town of Juliaetta, located about 27 miles southeast of the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.

Juliaetta, a town of just over 600 people, was evacuated Thursday just before the fierce fires.

Several other communities near the Clearwater River and the Nez Perce Tribal Fish Hatchery complex followed.

The region has experienced record heat and extreme drought conditions this summer.(AP: August Frank/Lewiston Tribune)

The fires covered about 80.3 square kilometres as of Friday afternoon.

“It’s a pretty intense series of fires,” said Robbie Johnson, public information officer for the Idaho Department of Lands.

“We’re using everything we’ve got. When additional fires come into an area, you have to say, ‘We’ve got to send planes here and there,’ and make tough decisions about attack.”

“We have some very smart people working on this project.”

There is no estimate yet of the number of buildings burned in Idaho, Johnson said Friday morning.

Man arrested in Chico following California wildfires

Other fires in the western United States have been caused by humans, such as the Park Fire raging in Butte County, California, just northwest of the community of Paradise, where the Camp Fire in 2018 killed 85 people and incinerated thousands of homes.

The state’s largest active wildfire started Wednesday when a man pushed a burning car into a ravine in Chico and then calmly mingled with others fleeing the scene, authorities said.

Ronnie Dean Stout of Chico was arrested early Thursday and held without bail pending his arraignment Monday, authorities said.

There was no response to an email from The Associated Press to the district attorney asking whether the suspect had legal representation or anyone who could comment on his behalf.

About 1,000 people had been displaced by lightning-sparked gold complex fires as of Thursday, but some evacuations were lifted Friday when the 12-square-kilometre blaze was about 11 per cent contained.

Fire officials have pulled about 200 firefighters from the Gold Complex line so they can assist with efforts to fight the park fire near Chico.

By midday Friday, the fire had burned more than 250 square miles (720 square kilometers) in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the city of 100,000.

More than 130 structures have been destroyed by the fire and thousands more remain at risk.

It remains completely unbridled.

The park fire remains completely out of control.(AP: Noah Berger)

Carli Parker is among hundreds of people who fled their homes this week as the Park Fire drew closer.

Ms. Parker decided to leave her Forest Ranch residence with her family when the fire began burning across the street.

She has already been forced to leave two homes because of fires and said she has little hope her residence will remain unscathed.

“I think I felt unsafe because the police had come to our house because we had signed up for early evacuation alerts, and they were running to their vehicle after telling us we had to evacuate ourselves and that they weren’t coming back.”

Forest Ranch evacuee Sherry Alpers fled with her 12 small dogs and made the decision to stay in her car outside a Red Cross shelter in Chico after learning pets would not be allowed inside.

She ruled out going to another shelter after learning the dogs would be kept in cages, since her dogs have always roamed freely at her home.

Alpers said she didn’t know if the fire had spared her home or not, but added that as long as her dogs were safe, she didn’t care about material things.

“I’m a little worried, but not that worried,” she said.

“If it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Brian Bowles was also staying in his car outside the shelter with his dog, Diamon.

He said he didn’t know if his mobile home was still standing.

Mr. Bowles said he had only a $100 ($153) gift card he received from United Way, which distributed them to evacuees.

“The question now is: Am I going to get a comfortable motel room for one night? Or am I going to put gas in the car and sleep here?” he said.

“Difficult choice.”

Fire crews are making progress on another complex of fires burning in the Plumas National Forest near the California-Nevada border, Forest Service spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said.