Wildfires Blaze Across Western United States

A series of active wildfires are burning across the western United States, charring hundreds of thousands of acres as firefighters work to contain them. The blazes include Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, which had reached nearly 400,000 acres on Wednesday morning, and California’s Beckwourth Complex Fire, last measured at approximately 105,000 acres. But there are many smaller fires across 13 states, most of them in the Western U.S. Because the fires are located primarily in forest or rural areas, evacuations have been minimal. As of July 20, ten evacuation shelters were open for wildfire response across all three states. Only 47 residents occupied these shelters. Direct Relief has been in correspondence with state emergency management departments in affected areas. The organization has active partnerships with Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and the California Office of Emergency Services’ State Emergency Operations Center. It is also maintaining communication with key healthcare partners to offer support and maintain situational awareness. Over the past two weeks, Direct Relief has provided more than $300,000 in medical aid to more than 50 healthcare sites in fire-affected counties across 7 western states. The supplies included PPE such as gowns and gloves, medical items such as eye drops and allergy medications, as well as hydrocortisone, antibiotics, and insulin. Direct Relief also has several wildfire kits staged and ready to deploy upon request from its Santa Barbara, California, warehouse. The kits contain the medications and supplies most frequently needed during and after a fire.