Large wildfires are burning across the western United States and parts of Canada, with extreme heat and dry conditions worsening the situation. The National Interagency Fire Center reported on Sunday that more than 30,000 personnel with over 640 crews were assigned to fight over 94 large fires across the country. Utah is among the hardest hit areas, with close to a dozen active wildfires consuming more than 300,000 acres. The Widemouth 2 fire has scorched over 118,000 acres and is now the largest fire in the state this year. The fire was 27% contained as of Sunday morning, according to the Forest Service.
In Oregon, a bulldozer operator named Jason Ensign died while battling the Wrights Spring Fire, which has spread over 33,000 acres and was 0% contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to NPR. The Rocky Canyon Fire near Salt Lake City has grown to more than 2,800 acres since it began on Friday and is 0% contained, prompting evacuations in Morgan County. In Canada, British Columbia has seen over 100 active wildfires, with the Bald Range fire forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate, according to a report from The Independent. The Bald Range wildfire has led to evacuations in Summerland and Peachland, towns near Okanagan Lake. Anette Boulet, a resident of Summerland, described the scene as overwhelming, saying there were no words to express what she witnessed.
In Washington state, residents near Spokane were advised to leave their homes as two fires started nearby. Evacuation orders were lifted in some areas after firefighters made progress on containing the flames, RTE reported. The fires near Spokane have scorched 10,000 acres and destroyed or heavily damaged more than 900 homes. At the peak of the fire activity, as many as 64,000 residents were under evacuation orders.
No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported in the Spokane area fires, according to officials. A state of emergency was declared in British Columbia as wildfires threatened communities and forced thousands to flee.
In the summer of 2020, Malden, Washington, was mostly destroyed by a wildfire, losing its fire station, post office, city hall, and library. Two helicopter pilots died in Utah when their aircraft crashed while fighting the Widemouth 2 Fire in Fishlake National Forest. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
In Greece, a new wildfire broke out near Athens, driven by strong winds and prompting evacuations in nearby villages. The fire in Kouvaras was fought with water-bombing aircraft and helicopters, and at least 172 firefighters were deployed. A second wildfire in Greece near Athens destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of forest and farmland just ten days earlier. Greece has seen a rise in intense wildfires linked to climate change, with experts warning about the increased severity of fires in Attica. From 2017 to 2026, 42% of the forest area in Attica burned due to 15 major fires.
IMAGE: Kaibab National Forest / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)