Evacuations expand in Lake County as 227,000-acre Bootleg Fire spreads erratically
InciWeb
Towering smoke column from the fast-growing Bootleg Fire
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — More Lake County residents living along the eastern edge of Southern Oregon's Bootleg Fire were told to evacuate Thursday as the inferno once more began spreading rapidly and erratically in hot afternoon winds and a nearby, smaller fire gained a foothold.
The more than 227,000-acre Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire currently burning in the U.S., has now torched an area larger than New York City and has stymied firefighters with erratic winds and extremely dangerous fire behavior. Some of the evacuations were triggered by a second, smaller fire called the Log Fire to the northeast of the main blaze that expanded to nearly 5,000 acres in the past 24 hours.