Wildfire in the United States: “When I got here, it was like a shot in the stomach”

The largest wildfire in North America is currently raging in Oregon. According to local news reports, the so-called “bootleg fire” this year destroyed at least 67 homes near the California border.

Raul Flores, resident:

“Otherwise the sheriff will come and give me a choice. He said, ‘If you want to leave, you can leave. But if you want to stay, you can stay. ‘This time the sheriff came and said,‘ You have to get out of here! So we decided to go.

More than 2,000 people in the Cyclone Estates community were forced to flee their homes. When they returned, they found nothing left in their house.

Cage Clark, resident:

“I thought I still had my lumber mill, maybe this business too. I thought there was something else to come back to. It was like being shot in the stomach when I got here. My stomach turned. Nothing left.”

160,000 hectares of land in the area, which is three times the size of Constance Lake, is on fire. More than 2,200 firefighters are operating. For some who live in remote areas of the Cyclone River, the fire has been able to contain more than half of the fires, but the operation has been delayed.

Cage Clark, resident:

2015 I lost my father in 2015. All the pictures there … all the knives, all his own stuff … there were things that never came back. “

Oregon Governor Kate Brown made the call to federal and state officials Sunday. Fire is more and more difficult to fight and is a sign of the changing impact on the climate.

The wildfire season in the western United States looks set to be even more devastating this year than it was in 2020. In the neighboring state of California, this year’s biggest wildfire, along with a small fire over the weekend, is threatening the livelihoods of many people there as well.