Wildfires stretch resources

Hundreds of requests for help along the West Coast have gone unfulfilled, Washington State Forester George Geissler said. Other countries, including Canada and Israel, as well as nine U.S. states have deployed supplemental fire crews to support local efforts to respond to the worst wildfire season on record. Smoke from the fires has drifted to the East Coast and reached as far as Western Europe.

What’s happening on the ground? President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for Oregon, where the blazes have burned more than 1,300 square miles, destroyed more than 1,000 homes, and killed at least eight people. The ongoing Beachie Creek fire has destroyed four Oregon towns since Aug. 16. In California, the fires have killed 25 people and burned more than 4,200 buildings since Aug. 15.

Dig deeper: See interactive fire maps for the Pacific Northwest and California.