JUDY WOODRUFF: The extreme heat and ongoing drought in the West are combining to make
for a very difficult fire season. Wildfires are burning earlier than usual in some places.
It's also led to evacuations, as firefighters try to contain huge blazes in sweltering heat,
with temperatures hitting the triple digits in some cases. William Brangham, who's just
back from reporting out West, has our update. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Judy, the federal agency
that tracks wildfires reports that more than 65 major fires in Western states that have
burned close to a million acres so far, more than half are located in Arizona, Idaho and
Montana. In Northern California, large blazes are burning in the Sierra Nevada hills and
forests and right near the Nevada border. Thousands of homes have been evacuated. The
largest fire in the country right now is in Southern Oregon. It's known as the Bootleg
Fire. It's already burned more than 150,000 acres. That's an area twice the size of Portland.
There are two other smaller, but still significant fires in the state as well. We look at the
state of the situation there with Rich Tyler. He's with the Oregon State Fire Marshal's
Office. Rich Tyler, very good to have you on the "NewsHour, " especially amidst what
you're dealing with right now. Can you just give us a sense of -- the Bootleg Fire, we
know, has been doubling in size every couple of days. this sounds like an awful thing you
all are having to deal with. What is it like right now? What are conditions like? RICH
TYLER, Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office: Currently, at the Bootleg Fire, they are reporting
201, 923 acres that are burned and zero percent containment. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Zero percent?
RICH TYLER: Yes. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And what does that mean for firefighters who are trying
to get their hands around this? RICH TYLER: It means that we are looking at all possible
tactics and strategies to not only give a little bit of direction to the fire, but primarily
protect lives and homes and infrastructure. There is a major power line that runs through
the middle of that fire that is headed south to California. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And do you
have a sense of the kinds of structures and homes and communities that might be in the
line? RICH TYLER: Yes. Let's see. We have approximately 1, 926 homes that are threatened,
with 21 that have already been destroyed. And we have 54 other structures, outbuildings,
that have already been destroyed. And those are the ones we know of. We will continue
to assess and look at, but that is a slower process, because our priority is saving lives,
protecting homes and values. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And what about for the firefighters themselves?
I mean, I can't imagine dealing with something, one, of that size, but also in those conditions.
I know it has been incredibly hot out there. RICH TYLER: Yes. And the fire -- typically,
fires have a fire front. It goes in a direction, which allows us to anchor from the start of
the fire area, work along the flanks, and work our way to the front of the fire. The
unique characteristics that the Bootleg Fire has, if you look at it on the infrared maps,
there is no one fire front. In fact, there -- at times, there is three or a horseshoe-shaped
fire front, which means your flanks are very limited. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It is still relatively
early in the summer. For you guys to be fighting something as big and ferocious as this in
July, I mean, what is that? Is that this ongoing drought, the heat? What is that? RICH TYLER:
I think it's all of it. I was talking to our administrator. And we haven't deployed a task
forces under the State Fire Marshal's Office under a Conflagration Act prior to July 15
ever. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ever? RICH TYLER: Ever. So, now we are at July 13, and we have
had five conflagrations already in the state of Oregon. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is there any
sense from the forecasts of, do you have any potential relief insight from Mother Nature
helping you out? RICH TYLER: Right now, all the weather systems -- or the weather experts
are telling us we're going to get more of the same. Stability for us wildland and structural
firefighters when it comes to weather is good news. It's when the weather changes, the wind
direction changes, the temperatures spike, the relative humidity drop, and it changes
drastically in a small window, that it becomes more dangerous. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We know
that human-caused ignition is a major driver of these kinds of fires. Is it your sense
that people have gotten a better sense of controlling their own behavior with sparks
and cigarettes and campfires and things like that, and done a better job of defending their
homes and properties in case fire comes? Has that improved? RICH TYLER: Absolutely. In
2020, 70 percent of Oregon's wildfires were human-caused, 70 percent. That means we have
an opportunity to really push the education while people are aware of, while our citizens
are aware of the devastation that wildfires can have. People want to get out of their
homes. They want to get out of their isolation. They're headed back out in the wilderness.
And they're headed out to the parks, and they're headed out to where the forests are. But when
you take people that may never have been in the forest or haven't been in the forest a
long time, they are -- they're having to relearn or learn for the first time, how do you be
smart? How do you be responsible for your actions to reduce the chance of ignition of
wildfires? WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Rich Tyler with the Oregon State Fire Marshal's
Office, thank you very much for being here. And we wish you the best of luck out there.
RICH TYLER: Thank you so much, William.