After a devastating start to the week, fires continued to burn on Sept. 9 in Washington and Oregon. Extremely dry and gusty wind conditions sparked over 80 new fires in Oregon and Washington, including a dozen large-scale blazes and one that destroyed about 80% of Malden, Wash., a small town about 30 miles south of Spokane, Wash.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s Marion and Jackson Counties are the hardest hit. The Santiam and Lionshead fires were the strongest, burning about 200,000 acres, but it was the Almeda fire that destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses through Phoenix, Ore., and Talent, Ore., and led to evacuation orders for 80,000 people as it entered Medford, near Oregon’s southern border with California. The fire burned into recreational areas of Medford.