Fire is seen in Salem City, Oregon. Photo: ZAK STONE/via REUTERSUnprecedented wildfires in Oregon have all but destroyed five small towns and a record number of deaths is feared, Governor Kate Brown says. Oregon was the hardest hit state in the US west, where nearly 100 extreme wildfires were stoked by high winds and temperatures. The towns of Detroit in central Oregon, Blue River and Vida in coastal Lane County and Phoenix and Talent in southern Oregon were substantially destroyed, Brown told a news conference. The blaze did little damage to Ashland, home to the historic stages of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 09, 2020 21:33 UTC