US police open arson probe as more deaths expected in Oregon
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Ashland, Oregon — Arson investigators have opened a probe into the suspicious origins of a deadly Oregon wildfire that began in the town of Ashland and destroyed hundreds of homes in nearby communities, Ashland's police chief said on Thursday.
The remains of two victims have been found in ruins from the blaze, which erupted on Tuesday and roared through a third day in the midst of a spate of wildfires across Oregon, according to a spokesperson for the state fire marshal.
More bodies are expected to be discovered as search teams comb through the wreckage of dwellings that were engulfed during a chaotic evacuation of populated areas along the path of the swiftly spreading flames, Ashland police chief Tighe O'Meara said.
"We tried to get people out as fast as we could," O'Meara said by phone. "Chances are there are going to be bodies in some of those homes. The likelihood of much larger [fatality] numbers is significant."
The blaze, dubbed the Almeda fire, originated on Tuesday morning in Ashland, a city of about 21,000 residents in southern Oregon just 26km from the California border that is home to Southern Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
The flames, driven by high winds, did relatively little damage to Ashland but quickly spread out of town and into neighbouring communities along Bear Creek before roaring through the adjacent towns of Talent and Phoenix toward Medford, a city of 82,000 residents, O'Meara said.
He cited local news media estimates that roughly 600 homes were destroyed but added, "easily hundreds of homes were lost".
Reuters video footage from the fire zone showed kilometres of burnt-out vehicles, flame-scorched ruins of gutted buildings and twisted debris lining state highway Route 99 in between Ashland and Medford.
The area was off-limits to evacuees, but here and there individuals and couples were seen trudging along the roadway with arm loads of belongings they apparently had managed to salvage from the wreckage of their homes.
Police in Medford as well as in Douglas County to the north cautioned against rumours that left-wing antifascists and right-wing Proud Boy extremists were starting the fires.
Rich Tyler, a spokesperson for the state fire marshal's office, said separately that it was not immediately clear whether any of the fires raging across Oregon this week were deliberately set.
"Every fire is investigated for the possibility of arson so that we can either determine ...
The remains of two victims have been found in ruins from the blaze, which erupted on Tuesday and roared through a third day in the midst of a spate of wildfires across Oregon, according to a spokesperson for the state fire marshal.
More bodies are expected to be discovered as search teams comb through the wreckage of dwellings that were engulfed during a chaotic evacuation of populated areas along the path of the swiftly spreading flames, Ashland police chief Tighe O'Meara said.
"We tried to get people out as fast as we could," O'Meara said by phone. "Chances are there are going to be bodies in some of those homes. The likelihood of much larger [fatality] numbers is significant."
The blaze, dubbed the Almeda fire, originated on Tuesday morning in Ashland, a city of about 21,000 residents in southern Oregon just 26km from the California border that is home to Southern Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
The flames, driven by high winds, did relatively little damage to Ashland but quickly spread out of town and into neighbouring communities along Bear Creek before roaring through the adjacent towns of Talent and Phoenix toward Medford, a city of 82,000 residents, O'Meara said.
He cited local news media estimates that roughly 600 homes were destroyed but added, "easily hundreds of homes were lost".
Reuters video footage from the fire zone showed kilometres of burnt-out vehicles, flame-scorched ruins of gutted buildings and twisted debris lining state highway Route 99 in between Ashland and Medford.
The area was off-limits to evacuees, but here and there individuals and couples were seen trudging along the roadway with arm loads of belongings they apparently had managed to salvage from the wreckage of their homes.
Police in Medford as well as in Douglas County to the north cautioned against rumours that left-wing antifascists and right-wing Proud Boy extremists were starting the fires.
Rich Tyler, a spokesperson for the state fire marshal's office, said separately that it was not immediately clear whether any of the fires raging across Oregon this week were deliberately set.
"Every fire is investigated for the possibility of arson so that we can either determine ...