Wildfire near Portland, Oregon destroys some homes

Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires on Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland. The state's emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are "preparing for a mass fatality event" and that thousands of structures have been destroyed. A change in the weather, with winds dropping and shifting direction and humidity rising, greatly helped firefighters struggling to prevent the two fires from advancing farther west into more-populated areas. Governor Kate Brown said more than 40,000 Oregonians have been evacuated and about 500,000 are in different levels of evacuation zones, either having been told to leave or to prepare to do so. The Oregon Convention Center in Portland was among the buildings being transformed into shelters for evacuees. Dozens of people are missing in Jackson County in the south and Marion County, where a fire continues to burn east of Salem, Brown told a news conference Friday. Also Friday, authorities announced that a man had been arrested on two counts of arson for allegedly starting a fire in southern Oregon on Tuesday. The high number of fires occurring simultaneously in the span of just a few days in Oregon was fueled by dry conditions, high temperatures and especially strong, swirling winds. Oregon officials haven't released an exact death count for the wildfires, but at least eight fatalities have been reported in the state. Oregon's congressional delegation announced Friday that the White House has approved the state's request for an emergency declaration that will help provide immediate assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Wildfire near Portland, Oregon destroys some homes

Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires on Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland.

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