Thousands of evacuees displaced by Oregon's deadly wildfires have settled into a second week in shelters or car camping as crews battle the blazes and scour the ruins of demolished communities for those still missing.
With state resources stretched to their limit, Oregon Governor Kate Brown has requested a federal disaster declaration from the White House to bolster assistance for emergency response and relief efforts.
Dozens of fires have charred some 1.8 million hectares of tinder-dry brush, grass and woodlands in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, ravaging several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 34 people.
Eight deaths have been confirmed during the past week in Oregon, which became the latest and most concentrated hot spot in a larger summer outbreak of fires across the entire western United States.
The Pacific Northwest was hardest hit.
The fires, described as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, have also filled the region's skies with smoke and soot, compounding a public health crisis already posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
They roared to life in California in mid-August and erupted across Oregon and Washington last week, many sparked by lightning storms and stoked by record-breaking heat and howling winds.
Weather conditions improved early this week, enabling firefighters to begin to make headway in containing and tamp down the blazes.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says 16,600 firefighters were still battling 25 major fires on Tuesday, after achieving full containment around the perimeter of others.
At least 25 people have perished in California wildfires over the past four weeks, while more than 4,200 homes and other buildings have gone up in smoke.
Nearly 1.2 million hectares in California alone have burned so far - more than in any single year in its history - and five of the 20 largest wildfires on record in the state have occurred during that time.
One wildfire fatality has been confirmed in Washington state, where 400 structures have been lost.
Roughly 400,000 hectares have been blackened in Oregon, double the state's annual average over the past decade.
Oregon's death toll was revised downward on Tuesday after medical examiners determined two sets of remains were those of animals.
At the height of the crisis there, some 500,000 residents - at least 10 per cent of the state's population - were under some form of evacuation alert, many forced to flee their homes as swiftly advancing flames closed in.
Over 1,700 structures, most of them dwellings, have been incinerated
At last count, some 16 people reported missing by friends and loved ones remained unaccounted for in Oregon, state emergency management officials said.
Australian Associated Press
