CLOVIS: Wildfires raged Thursday up and down the US West Coast, whipping through towns in three states and prompting widespread evacuations as officials warn the death toll could shoot up in the coming days.
At least seven people have been confirmed dead in California, Oregon and Washington, but officials say some areas are still impossible to reach, meaning the number is likely to rise.
In Butte County, California, where three people have been killed, firefighters battled the flames through the night, after a day of apocalyptic orange skies over the Golden State.
Five towns were "substantially destroyed" as widespread evacuations took place across Oregon, governor Kate Brown said.
"This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in our state's history," she told a press conference.
In Oregon, two deaths were confirmed in the Santiam Canyon region, 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Portland, and another was recorded in the Ashland area.
Only "smoldering ruins" remained of large parts of the town of Talent, local resident Sandra Spelliscy told AFP. "There are numerous neighborhoods where there are no structures left standing... dozens of homes (gone) and literally nothing except the skeletons of a chimney or an appliance," she said.
Emergency officials ordered the evacuation of Estacada - a small, rural city 30 miles southeast of Portland.
Jason Valean, 29, fled his house on foot with his two large dogs and was nervously waiting in the central downtown area for his mother.
"She wanted to keep the dogs in their pen, but I wasn't going to let her," he said, adding she had released their pigs in the hope they would have a chance of getting away safely. Another resident said she was planning to stay despite the evacuation order because she worried about looting, although her husband was leaving with their son and granddaughter.
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