Huge Oregon Blaze Grows as Wildfires Burn Across Western US

Huge Oregon Blaze Grows as Wildfires Burn Across Western US
In this photo taken with a drone provided by the Bootleg Fire Incident Command, a pyrocumulus cloud, also known as a fire cloud, is seen over the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon on July 14, 2021. Bootleg Fire Incident Command via AP
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BLY, Oregon—The largest wildfire in the U.S. torched more dry forest landscape in Oregon on Sunday, one of dozens of major blazes burning across the West as critically dangerous fire weather loomed in the coming days.

The destructive Bootleg Fire just north of the California border grew to more than 476 square miles (1,210 square kilometers), an area about the size of Los Angeles.

Erratic winds fed the blaze, creating dangerous conditions for firefighters, said John Flannigan, an operations section chief on the 2,000-person force battling the flames.

“Weather is really against us,” he said. “It’s going to be dry and air is going to be unstable.”