Firenado Strikes Oregon: Death Toll, Serious Health Impacts Rise

Firenado in Southern Oregon

A thunderstorm early Wednesday scattered many more lightning strikes across the Cascade Range in southern Oregon where conditions are extreme, including at least one “firenado” and serious health impacts on residents, and deadly for two of over 5000 firefighters including National Guardsmen have been working since the region ignited on July 26.

Another firefighter has died, the second to give his life to protect residents and contain blazes bringing hell to southern Oregon. The young firefighter’s water truck rolled over after hitting an embankment on a one-lane mountain road.

Marvin Vetter of Oregon’s Department of Forestry has shown a photo of a “firenado” swirling above a sea of burning trees in the area where fires caused by lightning and suspected human activities are burning out of control.

The number of fires has decreased because some of them are joining, as predicted.

Eight “smokes” have been reported by fire lookouts and other sources in Jackson County. This morning, a helicopter flew over the region on a reconnaissance flight while a second one was to begin dropping water wherever needed.

Lightning strikes were also recorded near the Soda Mtn. Wilderness in the southeast part of Jackson County, and in northeast Josephine County where some evacuations had been in place last week.

The fires’ intensity in the region, that has been locked in a stubborn drought, is so strong, nearby towns and cities are being blanketed with large, “lung-painting plumes of ashy air,” The Atlantic Cities reports.

“Tuesday evening, the state’s environmental department noted that the area around Medford (metropolitan population: 207,000) had an “unhealthy” air quality index of 151, meaning that anybody outdoors could incur “serious health effects,” according to Oregon Smoke.” 

Medford asthma specialist Dr. Kevin Parks says the uptick in patients during fire season in the Rogue Valley is much worse this year.

“The amount of smoke we have in the valley now, when you can’t see a mile, even healthy people will often start to have symptoms. And in asthmatics, it will often shows up as shortness of breath, chest tightness, their medication needs will increase,” he said.

People with symptoms should stay inside and avoid physical activity, or, if they must work outside, wear a N-95 respirator mask (designed to filter at least 95 percent of fine particles in air).

“Parks has put his own daily run on hold while the smoke is bad, instead heading to Central Oregon to get exercise on the weekend,” Earthfix reports.

Over 5,000 firefighters are working to contain five large blazes in Southwest Oregon:

• The Big Windy Complex burning on the south bank of the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River is 9,192 acres and is completely uncontained.
• The Douglas Complex fires northwest of Glendale and Wolf Creek, have burned 35,633 acres and are 16 percent contained.
• The Labrador Fire northwest of Cave Junction has burned 2,020 acres and is completely uncontained.
• The Whiskey Complex east of Tiller is 6,245 acres and 25 percent contained.
• The Brimstone Fire, near Grants Pass is 2,372 acres and 80 percent contained

Bleak Outlook

The outlook is bleak, according to NASA:

The fires were situated in extremely rugged terrain that hampered firefighting efforts. Approximately 3,000 firefighters were battling the Douglas Complex fires, including the National Guard. About 1,000 were fighting the Big Windy fires. The Douglas Complex was 16 percent contained as of August 6, 2013. Collectively, the two fires had burned nearly 50,000 acres (20,200 hectares).

While the fires have not yet destroyed homes, they have forced evacuations and the closure of some roads. Smoke lingered in the valleys, posing a health risk to people. To counter the smoke, the Red Cross distributed 20,000 respiration masks in southern Oregon.

Veteran firefighters expect the inferno to grow fivefold and burn until autumn. 

“We’re going to live with these fires until October 15th or later,” stated Dan Thorpe, a state forester in charge of the southwest district.

Oregon’s governor has said that officials expect the disaster to burn half-million acres and not to end until Christmas time.

Today, officials told the Medford Mail Tribune that their their best-guess scenario is that it will expand to nearly 50,000 acres by fall — if firefighters can stop the present blazes from jumping the lines they are trying to establish.

Sources: Twitter, NASA, The Atlantic Cities, OPB News, SWOFIRE, Earthfix

Photo Credit: ODF / Inciweb