Aerial shots show devastation wreaked by wildfires raging in American West

Aerial images have revealed the devastation caused by wildfires raging in America’s West that have claimed at least 12 lives and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.

The before and after shots show the charred remains of homes and scorched landscapes in the towns of Medford, Talent and Phoenix, Oregon following the Alameda Fire this past week.

Numerous wildfires burned in Oregon’s forested valleys and along the coast, causing mass evacuations. Farther north, flames devoured buildings and huge tracts of land in Washington state.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown said communities have been “substantially destroyed” and warned there could be numerous fatalities.

Because of its cool, wet climate, the Pacific Northwest rarely experiences such intense fire activity. 

But the climate crisis, driven by human-caused greenhouse gases, is expected to keep warming the region, with most models predicting drier summers, according to the College of the Environment at the University of Washington.

In Oregon, fires erupted along Interstate 5, hitting towns and forcing a shutdown of the main freeway along the West Coast. US Highway 101, the main coastal highway running through California, Oregon and Washington, was also impacted.

At least three people in Oregon and the small child in Washington state were reported killed. In Oregon, authorities said one of the victims from Marion County near Salem was a young boy, whose remains were found alongside those of his dog.

This fire season, California has also experienced wildfires advancing with unprecedented speed and ferocity.

Since mid-August, fires have killed 12 people, destroyed more than 3,600 buildings, burned old growth redwoods, charred chaparral and forced evacuations in communities near the coast, in wine country north of San Francisco and along the Sierra Nevada.

Several other people have been critically burned and hundreds, if not thousands, of homes and other buildings are believed to have been damaged or destroyed by the fire northeast of San Francisco, authorities said. 

Experts say the California’s fires are growing bigger and moving faster than they ever have before.

Wires contributed to this report