In pictures: Wildfires raging in the West
US Forest Service/ZUMA Press Wire
Updated 4:02 PM ET, Mon July 19, 2021
US Forest Service/ZUMA Press Wire
Dozens of large wildfires are raging across the western United States as the region experiences a historic and unrelenting drought.
The biggest right now is the Bootleg Fire, which has been burning in the Fremont-Winema National Forest along the Oregon and California border. As of Monday, July 19, it had burned more than 300,000 acres. Officials were warning more Oregon residents to prepare to evacuate.
With wildfires burning across much of the West, the nation is at its highest level of fire preparedness, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. This is the earliest move to Preparedness Level 5 — also known as PL 5 — in the past decade, the agency said.
