The Bootleg Fire, named after the nearby Bootleg Spring, was a large wildfire that started near Beatty, Oregon, on July 6, 2021. Before being fully contained on August 15, 2021, it had burned 413,765 acres (167,445 ha; 1,674 km2; 647 sq mi).[2] It is the third-largest fire in the history of Oregon since 1900.[3][4] At the fire's fastest growth in mid July, it grew at about 1,000 acres (400 ha) per hour,[5] and it became the second largest wildfire in the United States of the 2021 wildfire season.[6][7]
Events
July
The Bootleg Fire was first reported on July 6, 2021, at around 1:42 pm PDT near Beatty, Oregon.[2] The Bootleg Fire merged with the smaller Log Fire to the east on July 19, 2021.[8][9]
As the Bootleg Fire burned east, it approached Mitchell Monument, a memorial to the only civilians killed in the 48 U.S. states during World War II.[10] To protect the historic site, fire crews trimmed low-hanging tree branches and built a fire line around the monument site. They also wrapped the tree scarred by the Japanese balloon bomb explosion and the stone monument in a fire-resistant material similar to the material used for firefighters' emergency shelters. As a result, when the fire passed through the adjacent forest, the monument was undamaged.[11][12]
The fire was 100% contained on August 15, 2021.[13] At one point, over 2,200 personnel were fighting the fire.[14]
Impact
Closures and evacuations
Several hundred square miles of southern Oregon, in Klamath and Lake counties, were under evacuation orders of various degrees of severity.[15]
Damage
A total of 408 buildings were destroyed by the fire, including 161 houses and 247 outbuildings.[1] The fire also destroyed 342 vehicles.[1] The historic Merritt Creek trestle along the OC&E Woods Line State Trail was also destroyed.[16] Most of the burned forestland was owned by Green Diamond Resource Company, who had used the trees for carbon offsets. An estimated 4.2 million new seedlings are planned to be planted in the burn zone to offset the loss of the original trees.[17]
Weather
The fire contributed to haze across the United States and vivid red sunrises and sunsets as far away as Boston and New York City.[18][19] Heat and smoke from the Bootleg Fire generated pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds, some reaching as high as 45,000 feet (14,000 m) and bringing lightning strikes and precipitation.[3][7] There were reports of small fire whirls, and officials believed that at least one actual fire tornado formed in the southeastern portion of the fire on July 18.[7][20]
^Schwartz, John (July 20, 2021). "Why is the sun red? Wildfire smoke from a continent away spreads to New York". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2023. The Bootleg Fire in Oregon now covers more than 388,000 acres... smoke from that fire and others making its way across wide swaths of the United States and Canada. It first reached New York City around July 15.
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