Wildfires in the American West: Oregon continues to burn and suffocate

The sign of a flame-ravaged motel in Gates, east of Salem, Oregon, September 13, 2020. Rob SCHUMACHER / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

President Donald Trump is expected this Monday in California, like Democrat Kamala Haris, Joe Biden's running mate for the November 3 presidential election.

Like all of the western United States, Oregon is ravaged by fire.

These monster fires plunge this northwestern state in thick white smoke, which makes the air unbreathable.

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With our special correspondent in Oregon,

The entire west coast is covered with this impressive layer of smoke.

An apocalyptic atmosphere and air that is difficult to breathe already in San Francisco, from where we took off this Sunday morning.

But it's even worse in Portland, where smoke also disrupts air traffic.

Several flights have been canceled.

When we took off, our pilot first warned us that he might make a U-turn due to the lack of visibility, and as soon as we descended on Portland the smell of burning, forest fires entered the area. aircraft cabin.

In the cockpit, not the slightest visibility until the very last minutes before landing.

High pollution rate

On the ground, Portland, 600,000 inhabitants, has been plunged into this smoke for a week.

It is difficult to see anything beyond 300 meters.

Further south, in Salem, the capital of Oregon, has the highest pollution rates on the planet.

An air qualified as very bad for health by the authorities who invite the inhabitants not to go out.

Imagine, it's an area the size of Los Angeles that burned down here.

500,000 people or 10% of the population live with

, and dozens of people are missing.

There are 22 dead already in these fires in Oregon alone, a state which has never experienced such a situation and which expects an even greater human toll.

These fires revive the debate on global warming.

The US president has questioned the management of forests by local Democratic officials in the states affected by the flames.

Democrats who accuse Donald Trump of veiling his face by denying the effects of global warming.

►Also read: Fires in the United States: half a million people evacuated in Oregon

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