Two of Oregon’s largest fires, burning in Clackamas and Marion counties, don’t yet appear to have merged early Friday.
The blazes are among over three dozen burning throughout the state, covering nearly 900,000 acres and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. The five largest blazes, including those that are likely to combine, are no more than 5 percent contained.
The Beachie Creek and Riverside fires, which started in Marion and Clackamas counties, respectively, have burned over 306,000 acres, according to state data.
Doug Grafe, chief of fire protection at the Oregon Department of Forestry, said Thursday that authorities “fully expect” the blazes to merge.
A national wildfire map showed the wildfires remained separate Friday morning.
Evacuation orders for the blazes — and others throughout the state — are still active.
Here is the latest on wildfires burning throughout Oregon.
Clackamas County
The majority of Clackamas County — including Estacada, which sits just 30 miles outside the Portland metro area — is under a Level 3 (go now) evacuation order.
The rest of the county, which is reeling from the nearly 121,000-acre Riverside fire, is under lesser evacuation orders.
Firefighters had to pull back completely from the blaze for their safety for more than four hours Thursday afternoon, said fire spokeswoman Holly Krake. By then, the fire was less than two miles away from Estacada.
“The situation is evolving rapidly and in really unprecedented ways,” Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said Thursday.
Marion County
The Beachie Creek blaze now covers over 185,200 acres and is completely uncontained. The Lionshead fire, meanwhile, has burned over 125,500 acres. It’s 5 percent contained.
Residents of Gates, a city of 500 near the border of Marion and Linn counties, said their hometown was all but destroyed. The town’s school, as well as the mayor’s house, were leveled.
Mill City, Mehama, Lyons and Detroit are among the areas that have also seen significant damage. A grandmother and grandson who lived near Lyons are the first Oregonians known to have died as a result of the recent wildfires.
Jackson County
At least two people have died in the Almeda fire, bringing the state’s total of deaths to at least four.
The blaze, which has burned over 5,700 acres, sped north from Ashland and within hours decimated the small Jackson County communities of Talent and Phoenix.
The power remains out in both towns. Drinking water is shut off. They are effectively shut down.
Officials in Phoenix estimate the fire torched 1,000 residences, a mix of mobile or manufactured homes, apartments and homes. To the south in Talent, city leaders figure as many as 600 homes were lost.
In all, leaders say more than 2,000 residents, many of them elderly and low-income, lost their homes this week.
The larger South Obenchain fire is also burning in the southern Oregon county.
Lane County
The state’s largest blaze is the Holiday Farm fire, which decimated Blue River, where about 800 people live, and ravaged countless other buildings and dwellings along Oregon 126.
The fire covers 186,994 acres and is completely uncontained as of Friday morning.
