The Bootleg Fire has now burned more than 300,000 acres in southern Oregon and continues to grow as more than 80 large wildfires the West forced evacuations across the region. The Bootleg Fire, currently the nation’s largest fire, is fueled by extremely dry vegetation and low humidity and grew at an average rate of about one football field every five seconds over its first 10 days. It was just 25% contained as of Sunday night PDT. (Bootleg Fire: CNN, Reuters, AP; Western Fires: AP, CNN, USA Today, AP, Axios; Fire clouds: AP, The Hill; Climate Signals background: 2021 Western wildfire season)
