Raging wildfires choke West Coast, leaving it difficult to breathe

Wildfire smoke that posed a health hazard to millions choked the West Coast this weekend as firefighters battled deadly blazes that obliterated some towns and displaced tens of thousands of people, the latest in a series of calamities this year.

The smoke filled the air with an acrid metallic smell like pennies and spread to nearby states. While making it difficult to breathe, it helped firefighters by blocking the sun and turning the weather cooler as they tried to get a handle on the blazes, which were slowing in some places.

Across the hellish landscape of smoke and ash, authorities in Oregon, California and Washington state battled to contain the mega-wildfires Sunday as shifting winds threatened to accelerate blazes.

The arrival of the stronger winds tested the resolve of fire crews exhausted by weeks of combating blazes that have consumed around 5 million acres of desiccated forests, incinerated numerous towns and created what in many places was measured as the worst air quality on the planet.

"There's just so much fire," said Ryan Walbrun, a fire weather meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "And so much smoke."

The choking smoke cast a dark pall over the skies and created a vision of climate-change disaster that made worst-case scenarios for the future a terrifying reality for the present.

For people already enduring the coronavirus pandemic, the resulting economic fallout and political tensions evident in the Black Lives Matter protests and far-right counter protests in Portland, the fires added a new layer of misery.

"What's next? You have the protests, coronavirus pandemic, now the wildfires. What else can go wrong?" lamented Danielle Oliver, 40, of Happy Valley, southeast of Portland.

Oliver has an autoimmune disorder that makes her vulnerable to wildfire smoke, so she agreed to evacuate. She was nervous about going to a shelter because of the virus, but sleeping in a car with her husband, 15-year-daughter, two dogs and a cat was not a viable option.

The temperature checks and social distancing at the American Red Cross shelter helped put her mind at ease. Now the family waits, hoping their house will survive. She has previously experienced homelessness.

"I'm tired. I'm tired of starting all over. Getting everything, working for everything, then losing everything," she said.

Those who still had homes were not safe in them. A half-million Oregonians were under evacuation warnings or orders to leave. With air contamination levels at historic highs, people stuffed towels under door jambs to keep smoke out. Some even wore N95 masks in their own homes.

Some communities resembled the bombed-out cities of Europe after World War II, with buildings reduced to charred rubble piled atop blackened earth. Residents either managed to flee as the flames closed in, or perished.

The fires, which have killed at least 24 people in California, Oregon and Washington in the last week alone, have engulfed the region in anguish and fear, as fairgrounds have turned into refugee camps for many who have been forced from their homes.

Smoke created cooler conditions in Oregon, too, but it was also blamed for making the dirtiest air in at least 35 years in some places. The air quality index reading Saturday morning in the capital, Salem, was 512. The scale normally goes from zero to 500.

"Above 500 is literally off the charts," said Laura Gleim, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Because past air quality was rarely so poor, the government's yardstick for measuring it capped out at 500, Gleim said. The department started monitoring in 1985.

The smoke in Portland was so thick that Ashley Kreitzer could not see the road when she headed out to work as a ride-hailing driver. "I couldn't even see 5 feet ahead of me," she said. "I was panicking, I didn't even know if I wanted to go out."

Erik Tucker spent the day hauling buckets of water through what remained of his neighborhood to douse hot spots smoldering in tree trunks five days after the wildfire tore through the area.

Tucker, who lives in Lyons, Ore., had expected the worst but found his family's home still standing while homes just down the street were gone. He was coated in ash and smudged with charcoal. "No power, debris everywhere, smoke, can't breathe," he said.

Californians also struggled to breath. With the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest at nearly 32,000 acres Sunday, smoke from the blaze continued to create poor air quality across the Los Angeles Basin.

The Los Angeles Zoo was not open Sunday or Monday because of the unhealthful air but hoped to reopen Tuesday.

Poor air quality also contributed to the closure of eight parks in Los Angeles County. The county's Department of Public Health warned residents to stay indoors as much as possible and limit physical exertion, indoors or out.

"If you can see smoke, soot or ash, or you can smell smoke, pay attention to your immediate environment and take precautions to safeguard your health," said county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis. "These precautions are particularly important for children, older adults, and people with heart or lung diseases."

The Democratic governors of all three states say the fires are a consequence of climate change, taking aim at President Donald Trump ahead of his visit Monday to California for a fire briefing.

"It is maddening right now that when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The New York Times and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.