The Bear Fire killed three people on September 9, 2020 in Butte County, northern California.

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Noah Berger / AP / SIPA

A feeling of "hell" and an apocalypse sky: fueled by drought and strong winds, fires of historic proportions continue to ravage the entire west coast of the United States, from Seattle to San Diego.

On Wednesday, they caused the death of six more people, including a one-year-old child.

The child, found by rescue teams near his severely burned parents, perished in Washington state, the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.

All three were trying to escape the flames.

Two other victims were discovered in Oregon, and three members of the same family died in California.

120,000 hectares burned in Oregon

Between the two, Oregon has seen 120,000 hectares go up in smoke and at least five localities have been largely destroyed by fires "unprecedented in the history of the state", said its governor, Kate Brown.

The authorities expect "many losses, in terms of buildings and human lives" while massive evacuations are underway, she added at a press conference.

Two people were found dead in the state on Wednesday, the sheriff of Marion County in northwestern Oregon later announced.

According to local media, it is a 12-year-old boy and his grandmother.

Apocalyptic sky in San Francisco

In California, more than twenty fires are raging and this year the fire has consumed more than 10,000 km2 in the state, a record since these data were collected in 1987. Three people were found dead in the north of state, Butte County authorities said on Wednesday.

In San Francisco, residents woke up to a dark orange sky worthy of an apocalypse scene because of the smoke.

At midday, the cars were still driving headlights on as if the sun had still not risen.

Nearly a thousand firefighters were fighting the fire dubbed Creek Fire in the Fresno area (central), which spread over more than 65,000 hectares.

Further south, near Los Angeles, the Bobcat Fire devastated more than 4,500 acres and was still out of control, according to county firefighters.

Evacuation orders have also been issued for the threatened population near San Diego, where nearly 7,000 hectares have burned in the Valley Fire, according to local authorities.

"A new world"

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee said on Tuesday that nine "major" fires there burned more than 133,000 acres in 24 hours, more than double the area burned for all of 2019. "We live in a new world, this is no longer the Washington of before, ”he said, denouncing climate change, which he believes is the cause of these fires of a new magnitude.

"The conditions are so dry, so hot, so windy, because the climate has changed," said the governor, adding that more than 100,000 people were without electricity.

California Democratic Governor Gary Newsom also denounced the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

“I am literally losing patience with climate skeptics,” he said.

"This point of view is in total contradiction with the reality on the ground".

Planet

Fires in California: "Each year, we say that it is catastrophic and the following year, it is even more so", estimates Dominique Morvan

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