Massive wildfires in US West send haze of smoke across East Coast

Wildfires in the American West, including one burning in Oregon that's currently the largest in the US, have created hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to 10 km high.

Skies over New York City were hazy on Tuesday as strong winds blew smoke east from California, Oregon, Montana and other states. Oregon's Bootleg Fire grew to 1,595 sq km, half the size of Rhode Island.

Fires also grew on both sides of California's Sierra Nevada. The Dixie Fire, which broke out near the site of the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people in the town of Paradise, ballooned to more than 344 sq km, with 15 percent containment. 

More than 800 structures were threatened. In Alpine County, known as the California Alps, the Tamarack Fire caused evacuations of several communities and grew to 158 sq km with no containment.

The smoke on the US East Coast was reminiscent of last fall when multiple large fires burning in Oregon in the state's worst fire season in recent memory choked the local skies with pea-soup smoke but also impacted air quality several thousand miles away.

“We’re seeing lots of fires producing a tremendous amount of smoke, and ... by the time that smoke gets to the eastern portion of the country where it’s usually thinned out, there’s just so much smoke in the atmosphere from all these fires that it’s still pretty thick,” said David Lawrence, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “Over the last two years we’ve seen this phenomenon."

READ MORE: Hot winds fuel major Oregon wildfire as evacuations continue

'I lost my whole life'

Tony Galvez fled the Tamarack Fire in California on Tuesday with his daughter at the last minute and found out later that his home was gone.

“I lost my whole life, everything I’ve ever had. The kids are what’s going to matter,” he said as he fielded calls from relatives. “I got three teenagers. They’re going to go home to a moonscape.”

The Oregon fire has ravaged the southern part of the state and has been expanding by up to 6 kilometres a day, pushed by gusting winds and critically dry weather that's turned trees and undergrowth into a tinderbox.

Fire crews have had to retreat from the flames for 10 consecutive days as fireballs jump from treetop to treetop, trees explode, embers fly ahead of the fire to start new blazes and, in some cases, the inferno's heat creates its own weather of shifting winds and dry lightning.

Monstrous clouds of smoke and ash have risen up to 9.6 km into the sky and are visible for more than 160.9 km.

The fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest merged with a smaller nearby blaze on Tuesday, and it has repeatedly breached a perimeter of treeless dirt and fire retardant meant to stop its advance.

A red flag weather warning signifying dangerous fire conditions was in effect through Tuesday and possibly longer. The fire is 32 percent contained.

“We’re in this for as long as it takes to safely confine this monster," Incident Commander Rob Allen said.

READ MORE: Wildfires continue to scorch vast areas across western US, Canada

2,000 homes evacuated

At least 2,000 homes have been evacuated at some point during the fire and another 5,000 threatened. At least 70 homes and more than 100 outbuildings have gone up in flames. Thick smoke chokes the area where residents and wildlife alike have already been dealing with months of drought and extreme heat. No one is known to have died.

Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

On Tuesday, officials temporarily closed all recreational and public access to state-managed lands in eastern Washington due to fire danger, starting on Friday. The closure will affect about 5,853 sq km of land.

READ MORE: Wildfires engulf parts of western US, Canada as thousands displaced