Thank goodness I live in Illinois.

New York Times

The wildfire crisis on the West Coast is growing to a staggering scale as tens of thousands of people are told to evacuate.

The fires have consumed more than three million acres in California, almost a million acres in Oregon and destroyed entire towns in Washington. The mayor of Portland declared a state of emergency because of fires approaching its suburbs. Here’s the latest.

At least 15 people have died in the fires, with more deaths expected as teams search through burned homes. Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon said dozens of people had been reported missing. The director of the Oregon Office of Emergency Management said the state was “preparing for a mass fatality incident based on what we know and the numbers of structures that have been lost.”

The firefighting effort is compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, online misinformation and the need for more firefighters. We’re mapping the fires here and have tips on how to protect yourself.

If climate change was a somewhat abstract notion a decade ago, today it is all too real for Californians fleeing the worst year of fires on record. As the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, put it: “California is America in fast forward.”