The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office confirmed the death toll from the wildfires ravaging the area has risen to 16. The total of confirmed fatalities stands at 16 victims, and the cases remain under investigation. Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire, and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the coroner's office said in a statement Saturday evening. The previous number of confirmed fatalities was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as cadaver dogs search leveled neighborhoods and crews assess the devastation. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing. Firefighters raced to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward the world famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge. A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside. At a briefing, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus. “We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area "had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.” Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months. Read: Californians race to save pets as LA wildfires advance The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley. The hunt for bodies continues The grim work of sifting through the devastation continued Saturday, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. He said a family assistance center was being established in Pasadena, and he urged residents to abide by curfews. “We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said. The fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and new evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire. Since the fires first began Tuesday just north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. No cause has been determined for the largest fires, and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation's costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion. Rays of kindness amid the devastation So many volunteers showed up to help at donation centers Saturday that some were being turned away. That was the case at a YMCA in the Koreatown neighborhood. By late morning, cars with would-be helpers were also being turned back from the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where donations of necessities were being accepted. At the race track Friday, people who lost their homes could be seen sifting through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods. Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed. “Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. "All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.” Officials warn against returning to burned homes Some residents have been venturing back to see what can be salvaged after wildfires destroyed their homes, sifting through rubble for keepsakes. But officials on Saturday urged them to stay away, warning that the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials. “If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire. “All of that stuff is toxic.” Read more: Disney pledges $15M to aid Los Angeles wildfire victims Residents will be allowed to return, with protective gear, after damage teams have evaluated their properties, Thomas said. City leadership accused of skimping on firefighting funds Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said. Progress made on fighting the Eaton fire Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been lifted. LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped. The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

Californians rushed to evacuate their animals, including dogs, cats, horses, and even pigs, as wildfires in Los Angeles advanced rapidly, reports AP. Arianna Buturovic, who runs a dog rescue shelter near LA, watched anxiously as smoke approached. Within hours, fires engulfed the nearby mountains, forcing her to act quickly. “I crammed 15 dogs and two cats into a black Prius,” she said. With nine more dogs and a pig left behind, she flagged down a group of teenagers with a truck to transport them to safety. Unable to take her two ponies, she left their corral open to allow them to flee. “That’s how we managed to evacuate almost 30 animals. It was chaos,” she added. Animal owners throughout Los Angeles scrambled to save their pets as the wildfires claimed 11 lives and destroyed over 12,000 homes and structures this week. Overwhelmed animal shelters pleaded with people to find friends or family to temporarily house their pets. Wendy Winter and her husband bought cat carriers Tuesday evening to prepare for evacuation with their cats, Purry Mason and Jerry. Just two hours later, they had to flee their Altadena home. By the next morning, their house and the entire street were gone. “There’s fear, loss, and shock,” Winter said. The couple is now looking for friends to foster their cats while they figure out their next steps. Some pet owners, unable to evacuate with their animals, turned to shelters for help. The Pasadena Humane Society received 250 pets on the first day of the fires, while Los Angeles County Animal Care reported housing 97 animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, a turtle, a bird, and a snake. Disney pledges $15M to aid Los Angeles wildfire victims Veterinarian Dr. Annie Harvilicz transformed her former Animal Wellness Centers office in Marina del Rey into a temporary shelter, inspired by her brother’s need for pet care. She quickly accommodated 41 pets and found foster homes for most of them within days. Despite expecting more animals, she was instead overwhelmed by offers to volunteer. “I’m proud of the people of Los Angeles for stepping up to help one another,” she said. Larger animals faced greater challenges. Julia Bagan, a member of the Southern California Equine Emergency Evacuation group, found five horses trapped in their stalls in Altadena after the fire. Firefighters freed the horses, but one, a 3-year-old black mare named Flicka, suffered severe burns. Despite the dire odds, a veterinarian is treating the horse at an emergency equine hospital. “Leaving them locked up with no escape is tragic,” Bagan said. Meanwhile, some horse owners acted quickly. Meredith McKenzie evacuated her horse ahead of the fire, prioritising her sister’s care. “Horse owners know not to wait when there’s a fire risk,” she said, noting that panicked horses are harder to control once smoke appears. Though her barn at the historic Bob Williams Ranch burned, fellow equestrians have offered to help replace lost equipment. Suzanne Cassel evacuated from Topanga with her two horses, a donkey named Oscar Nelson, four dogs, and two cats, securing a spot at Pierce College’s animal shelter. While her horses settled together, her donkey felt isolated. “He’s lonely, so I sat with him in his stall for half an hour. Herd animals don’t like being alone,” she said. 12,000 structures destroyed, 11 dead, thousands displaced in devastating blaze Back at her rescue shelter, Buturovic relocated her animals to friends and Harvilicz’s temporary facility. When she returned to the ranch, she found it destroyed. Her ponies and two semi-feral dogs were gone. She is now raising funds for Philozoia, her non-profit dedicated to saving animals from high-kill shelters. “I don’t know how we’ll move forward,” she said.

A new fire prompted evacuations Thursday in and around Los Angeles even as firefighters aided by calmer winds saw the first signs of successfully beating back the region’s deadly and devastating wildfires, while the enormity of the devastation started to emerge. The fast-growing Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighborhood and close to Ventura County. The evacuation order covered parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The orders came as Los Angeles County officials announced the Eaton Fire near Pasadena that started Tuesday night has burned more than 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area has destroyed over 5,300 structures. Between the Eaton and Palisades fires, more than 10,000 structures have burned. All of the large fires that have broken out this week in the Los Angeles area are located in a roughly 25-mile band north of downtown. The Kenneth blaze ignited less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away from the El Camino Real Charter High School, where people are sheltering from the fire in Palisades. The two fires are about 10 miles (18 kilometers) apart. Dozens of blocks were flattened to smoldering rubble in scenic Pacific Palisades. Only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remained. In Malibu, blackened palm strands were all that was left above debris where oceanfront homes once stood. At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries were lost. So too were the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local landmarks dating to the 1920s. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage or specifics about how many structures burned. AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday increased its estimate of the damage and economic loss to $135-$150 billion. City leaders were encouraged Thursday after firefighters made significant gains at slowing the spread of the two biggest fires that had ignited block after block from Pacific Palisades to inland Altadena, a community near Pasadena. Crews also knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills, allowing an evacuation to be lifted Thursday. The fire that sparked up late Wednesday near the heart of the entertainment industry came perilously close to igniting the famed Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue. “While we are still facing significant threats, I am hopeful that the tide is turning,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said Thursday. Water dropped from aircraft helped fire crews quickly seize control of the fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Much of the widespread destruction occurred Tuesday after those aircraft were grounded due to high winds. Wind gusts were expected to strengthen Thursday evening through Friday morning, with another round of strong winds expected early next week, raising concerns that the conditions could worsen, the National Weather Service said. But Thursday's daytime forecast provided a window for firefighters — including crews pouring in from neighboring states and Canada — to make progress in reining in blazes that have killed at least seven people and caused thousands of people to flee their homes. Read: Wildfire Evacuation: Expert tips for staying safe and prepared Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott said firefighters were able to keep the Hollywood Hills blaze in check because “we hit it hard and fast and Mother Nature was a little nicer to us.” Fire officials said Thursday that they don’t yet know the cause of the fires but are actively investigating. Wind fuels the fires Earlier in the week, hurricane-force winds with gusts up to 80 mph (129 kph) blew embers, igniting the Southern California hillsides. Right now, it’s impossible to quantify the extent of the destruction other than “total devastation and loss,” said Barbara Bruderlin, head of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce. “There are areas where everything is gone, there isn’t even a stick of wood left, it’s just dirt,” Bruderlin said. Of the seven deaths so far, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley confirmed two were in Pacific Palisades. Cadaver dogs and search crews are searching through rubble and the death toll is expected to rise, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come, but they did not make it out, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post. Shari Shaw told KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother, Victor Shaw, to evacuate Tuesday night but he wanted to stay and fight the fire. Crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand. Read more: Firefighters combat destructive Los Angeles wildfires as winds ease On Thursday, recovery crews pulled a body from rubble of what was a beachfront residence in Malibu on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A charred washer and dryer were among the few things that remained. While the two main fires were no longer spreading significantly, both remained at 0% containment, officials said. 180,000 people are ordered to evacuate At least 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles (117 square kilometers) — roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles' history. At least 20 arrests have been made for looting, and the city of Santa Monica declared a curfew Wednesday night because of the lawlessness, officials said. Luna said to protect properties national guard troops would be stationed near the areas ravaged by fire and a curfew was expected to go into effect from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., starting as soon as Thursday. Actors lost homes Flames destroyed the homes of several celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton. Jamie Lee Curtis pledged $1 million to start a “fund of support” for those affected by the fires that touched all economic levels from the city’s wealthy to its working class. A longer fire season California’s wildfire season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 0.1 inches (2.5 millimeters) of rain since early May. Picking up the pieces with nowhere to go Robert Lara sifted through the remains of his home in Altadena on Thursday with tears in his eyes, hoping to find a safe containing a set of earrings that once belonged to his great-great-grandmother. “All our memories, all our sentimental attachments, things that were gifted from generation to generation to generation are now gone,” he said.  

The men found dead in two wildfires that ignited in eastern Washington earlier this month have been identified, and the number of homes destroyed has been confirmed at more than 350. Carl Grub, 86, died on Aug. 18 near an intersection in Medical Lake west of Spokane in the area of the Gray fire, which started that day, according to a Friday news release from the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office. Grub's cause and manner of death is still pending. 18 bodies found in Greece as firefighters battle wind-driven wildfires across the country Grub, with his brother, founded The Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch, where he taught kids interested in agriculture how to care for and raise livestock, KREM-TV reported. Earlier this year, the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane had been dedicated to Grub. Firefighters in Greece have discovered the bodies of 18 people in an area with a major wildfire “The world needs more people like Carl,” the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane wrote on its Facebook page. “He will be greatly missed.” On Aug. 20, Alex Brown died in Elk, Washington, north of Spokane in an area burned by the Oregon fire. Brown, 49 died from thermal and inhalation injuries, and his manner of death listed as accidental. Survivors of Maui's wildfires return home to blackened ruins as death toll rises to 67 The fires sparked on Aug. 18 during critical fire weather conditions. The Gray fire started west of Medical Lake, prompting mandatory evacuations and burning around Interstate 90, closing it in that area for more than two days. About 240 homes and 86 other kinds of structures were destroyed in the Gray fire, Lily Mayea, public information officer with Northwest Team 7 on the Gray fire, said Tuesday. The human-caused blaze has scorched 15.75 square miles (40.79 square kilometers) and was 85% contained as of Tuesday. Evacuations remain in place for some people, although none as of Tuesday were mandatory. The Oregon fire began east of Elk and has burned 16.9 square miles (43.77 square kilometers) with 79% containment as of Tuesday. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, all evacuation notices connected to the Oregon fire have been lifted, said Bill Queen, public information officer with Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 3 on the Oregon fire. He said 126 primary residences and 258 outbuildings were destroyed in the blaze. Gov. Jay Inslee on Aug. 19 declared a statewide emergency because of the two fires and others burning around the state.

Fire crews battled wildfires threatening communities in western Canada on Sunday as cooler temperatures and a bit of rain brought some relief, but officials warned the reprieve came only in some areas. Officials in Alberta said there were 108 active fires in the province and the number of evacuees grew to about 29,000, up from approximately 24,000 Saturday, when a provincewide state of emergency was declared. Two out-of-control wildfires in neighboring British Columbia also caused some people to leave their homes, and officials warned that they expected high winds to cause the blazes to grow bigger in the next few days. Provinicial officials in Alberta said the weather forecast was favorable for the next few days, with small amounts of rain and overcast conditions. But they cautioned that hot and dry conditions were predicted to return within a few days. “People have called this season certainly unprecedented in recent memory because we have so many fires so spread out,” Christie Tucker with Alberta Wildfire said at a briefing. “It’s been an unusual year.” Colin Blair, executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said accurate damage reports were not yet available because conditions made it difficult to assess the situation. There were of buildings destroyed in the town of Fox Lake, including 20 homes, a police station and a store. In northeastern British Columbia, officials urged residents to evacuate the areas around two out-of-control wildfires near the Alberta border, saying there were reports of some people staying behind. “This is impeding the response and putting their lives and the lives of firefighters at risk," said Leonard Hiebert, chairman of the Peace River Regional District. A third fire in British Columbia was burning out of control 700 kilometers (430 miles) to the south, in the Teare Creek region, and some residents near the village of McBride were evacuated.

At least 13 people were reported dead as of Friday night as a result of the more than 150 wildfires burning across Chile that have destroyed homes and thousands of acres of forest while the South American country is in the midst of a scorching heat wave. Four of the deaths involved two separate vehicles in the Biobío region, around 560 kilometers (348 miles) south of the capital of Santiago. “In one case they were burned because they were hit by the fire,” Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said. In the other case, she said, the victims died in a crash, “probably trying to escape the fire.” The fifth victim was a firefighter who was run over by a fire truck while combatting a blaze in the area. Later in the afternoon, a helicopter that was helping combat the flames crashed in the Araucanía region, killing the pilot, a Bolivian national, and a mechanic, who was Chilean. At nightfall, the national agency responsible for emergencies raised the death toll to 13 without giving details on the latest deaths. As of midday Friday, 151 wildfires were burning throughout Chile, including 65 declared under control. The fires had blazed through more than 14,000 hectares (34,595 acres). Most of the wildfires are in Biobío and neighboring Ñuble, where the government has declared states of catastrophe that allows greater coordination with the military and the suspension of certain constitutional rights. The heat wave hitting Chile is set to continue with high temperatures and strong winds that could make the wildfires more challenging. President Gabriel Boric suspended his vacation to travel to the affected areas on Friday and said there is “evidence” that some of the wildfires were sparked by unauthorized burnings. “The full force of the state will be deployed to, first of all, fight the fires and to accompany all the victims,” Boric said. It remained unclear how many homes and other structures had been burned. “Families are having a very difficult time,” Ivonne Rivas, the mayor of Tomé in Biobío, told local radio. “It’s hell what they are living through, the fire got away from us.” The wildfires caused the suspension of a highly anticipated announcement by forensic experts who were expected to give the cause of death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, winner of a Nobel Prize for literature. The experts were set to give their view on whether Neruda died of complications from prostate cancer or whether he was poisoned, potentially settling one of the great mysteries of post-coup Chile. The doctor in charge of delivering the report’s findings was unable to connect to the internet because he is in a region affected by the wildfires, a spokesman for the country’s judiciary said.

California wildfires erupted Wednesday in rural areas, racing through bone-dry brush and prompting evacuations as the state sweltered under a heat wave that could last through Labor Day. The Route Fire in Castaic in northwestern Los Angeles County raged through about 4,625 acres (1,872 hectares) of hills containing scattered houses. Interstate 5, a major north-south route, was closed by a blaze that burned several hundred acres in only a few hours. Media reports showed a wall of flames advancing uphill and smoke billowing thousands of feet into the air while planes dumped water from nearby Castaic Lake. There were no immediate reports of damage to buildings but a mobile home park with 94 residences was evacuated. An elementary school also was evacuated. Temperatures in the area hit 107 degrees (42 Celsius) and winds gusted to 17 mph (27 kph), forecasters said. Eight firefighters were treated for heat-related problems, including six who were sent to hospitals, but all were in good condition, Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief Thomas Ewald said. More injuries were expected as crews cope with extreme heat that was expected to stretch into next week, Ewald said during a news conference Wednesday night. “Wearing heavy firefighting gear, carrying packs, dragging hose, swinging tools, the folks out there are just taking a beating," he said. Aircraft would continue to drop water and fire retardant on the blaze overnight and winds could shift to the north through the night, causing the fire to burn back on itself, Ewald said. Ewald also said there could be other fires in LA County as the searing heat continues. Bulldozers to cut firebreaks will be staffed around the county Thursday as a precaution, he said. “This is the fire that's burning right now. But we have 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers) of LA County that we have to consider for tomorrow," he said. Read: Spain: 10 injured while leaving stopped train near wildfire Another fire burned at least four buildings, including a home, and prompted evacuations in the Dulzura area in eastern San Diego County near the Mexican border. It swiftly grew to more than 1,600 acres (647.5 hectares) acres and prompted evacuation orders for at least 400 homes, authorities said. State Route 94 was closed. The Mountain Empire Unified School District will be closed Thursday, officials said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that the Tecate port of entry with Mexico closed three hours early on Wednesday night because of the fire and wouldn't reopen until conditions improved to ensure “the safety of the traveling public." Travelers could continue to use the 24-hour Otay Mesa crossing. No injuries were immediately reported, but there were “multiple close calls” as residents rushed to flee, said Capt. Thomas Shoots with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “We had multiple 911 calls from folks unable to evacuate” because their homes were surrounded by the fire, Shoots told the San Diego Union-Tribune. The National Weather Service said many valleys, foothills, mountains and desert areas of the state remained under an elevated fire risk because of low humidity and high temperatures, which set several records for the day. The hottest days were expected to be Sunday and Monday. Wildfires have sprung up this summer throughout the Western states. The largest and deadliest blaze in California this year erupted in late July in Siskyou County, near the Oregon state line. It killed four people and destroyed much of the small community of Klamath River. Scientists have said climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. Across the American West, a 22-year megadrought deepened so much in 2021 that the region is now in the driest spell in at least 1,200 years.

Firefighters from across Europe started arriving in France on Friday to help battle several wildfires, including a giant blaze ravaging pine forests in the southwest of the country. The firefighters’ brigade from the Gironde region said the spread of the forest fire was limited overnight due to little wind but conditions for containing the blaze remained “unfavorable” due to hot, dry weather. Read: Wildfires spread, fish die off amid severe drought in Europe The fire in the Gironde region and neighboring Landes has burned more than 74 square kilometers (29 square miles) since Tuesday and led to the evacuation of at least 10,000 people. More than 360 firefighters and 100 specialized land vehicles were sent from Germany, Romania, Poland and Austria. They are joining over 1,000 French firefighters already on site. Greece sent two specialized Canadair aircraft. Sweden deployed two two firefighting Air Tractor planes to to help battle separate wildfires in the Brittany region, in western France.

Firefighters from across Europe struggled Thursday to contain a huge wildfire in France that has swept through a large swath of pine forest, while Germans and Poles faced a mass fish die-off in a river flowing between their countries. Europe is suffering under a severe heat wave and drought that has produced tragic consequences for farmers and ecosystems already under threat from climate change and pollution. The drought is causing a loss of agricultural products and other food at a time when supply shortages and Russia’s war against Ukraine have caused inflation to spike. In France, which is enduring its worst drought on record, flames raged through pine forests overnight, illuminating the sky with an intense orange light in the Gironde region, which was already ravaged by flames last month, and in neighboring Landes. More than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday. The French wildfires have already forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 16 houses. Read: Wildfires in Germany, Czechia threatening tourist region Along the Oder River, which flows from Czechia north into the Baltic Sea, volunteers have been collecting dead fish that have washed ashore in Poland and Germany. Piotr Nieznanski, the conservation policy director at WWF Poland, said it appears that a toxic chemical was released into the water by an industry and the low water levels caused by the drought has made conditions far more dangerous for the fish. “A tragic event is happening along the Oder River, an international river, and there is no transparent information about what is going on,” he said, calling on government authorities to investigate. People living along the river have been warned not to swim in the water or even touch it. Poland’s state water management body said the drought and high temperatures can cause even small amounts of pollution to lead to an ecological disaster but it has not identified the source of the pollution. In northern Serbia, the dry bed of the Conopljankso reservoir is now littered with dead fish that were unable to survive the drought. The water level along Germany’s Rhine River was at risk of falling so low that it could become difficult to transport goods — including critical energy items like coal and gasoline.

Firefighters have gotten their first hold on California’s deadliest and most destructive fire of the year and expected that the blaze would remain stalled through the weekend. The McKinney Fire near the Oregon border was 10% contained as of Wednesday night and bulldozers and hand crews were making progress carving firebreaks around much of the rest of the blaze, fire officials said at a community meeting. The southeastern corner of the blaze above the Siskyou County seat of Yreka, which has about 7,800 residents, was contained. Evacuation orders for sections of the town and Hawkinsville were downgraded to warnings, allowing people to return home but with a warning that the situation remained dangerous. About 1,300 residents remained under evacuation orders, officials said. The fire didn’t advance on Wednesday, following several days of brief but heavy rain from thunderstorms that provided cloudy, damper weather. “This is a sleeping giant right now,” said Darryl Laws, a unified incident commander on the blaze. In addition, firefighters expected Thursday to fully surround a 1,000-acre (404-hectare) spot fire on the northern edge of the McKinney Fire. The fire broke out last Friday and has charred nearly 90 square miles (233 square kilometers) of forestland, left tinder-dry by drought. More than 100 homes and other buildings have burned and four bodies have been found, including two in a burned car in a driveway. The blaze was driven at first by fierce winds ahead of a thunderstorm cell. More storms earlier this week proved a mixed blessing. A drenching rain Tuesday dumped up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) on some eastern sections of the blaze but most of the fire area got next to nothing, said Dennis Burns, a fire behavior analyst. The latest storm also brought concerns about possible river flooding and mudslides. A private contractor in a pickup truck who was aiding the firefighting effort was hurt when a bridge gave out and washed away the vehicle, Kreider said. The contractor had non-life-threatening injuries, she said. However, no weather events were forecast for the next three or four days that could give the fire “legs,” Burns said. Read: Wildfires in West explode in size amid hot, windy conditions The good news came too late for many people in the scenic hamlet of Klamath River, which was home to about 200 people before the fire reduced many of the homes to ashes, along with the post office, community center and other buildings. At an evacuation center Wednesday, Bill Simms said that three of the four victims were his neighbors. Two were a married couple who lived up the road. “I don’t get emotional about stuff and material things,” Simms said. “But when you hear my next-door neighbors died ... that gets a little emotional.” Their names haven’t been officially confirmed, which could take several days, said Courtney Kreider, a spokesperson with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office. Simms, a 65-year-old retiree, bought his property six years ago as a second home with access to hunting and fishing. He went back to check on his property Tuesday and found it was destroyed. “The house, the guest house and the RV were gone. It’s just wasteland, devastation,” Simms said. He found the body of one of his two cats, which he buried. The other cat is still missing. He was able to take his two dogs with him to the shelter. Harlene Schwander, 82, lost the home she had just moved into a month ago to be closer to her son and daughter-in-law. Their home survived but her house was torched. Schwander, an artist, said she only managed to grab a few family photos and some jewelry before evacuating. Everything else — including her art collection — went up in flames. “I’m sad. Everybody says it was just stuff, but it was all I had,” she said. California and much of the rest of the West is in drought and wildfire danger is high, with the historically worst of the fire season still to come. Fires are burning in Montana, Idaho and Nebraska and have destroyed homes and threaten communities. Scientists say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. California has seen its largest, most destructive and deadliest wildfires in the last five years. In 2018, a massive blaze in the Sierra Nevada foothills destroyed much of the city of Paradise and killed 85 people, the most deaths from a U.S. wildfire in a century. In northwestern Montana, a fire that has destroyed at least four homes and forced the evacuation of about 150 residences west of Flathead Lake continued to be pushed north by winds on Wednesday, fire officials said. Crews had to be pulled off the lines on Wednesday afternoon due to increased fire activity, Sara Rouse, a public information officer, told NBC Montana. There were concerns the fire could reach Lake Mary Ronan by Wednesday evening, officials said. The fire, which started on July 29 in grass on the Flathead Indian Reservation, quickly moved into timber and charred nearly 29 square miles (76 square km). The Moose Fire in Idaho has burned more than 85 square miles (220 square kilometers) in the Salmon-Challis National Forest while threatening homes, mining operations and fisheries near the town of Salmon. And a wildfire in northwestern Nebraska led to evacuations and destroyed or damaged several homes near the small city of Gering. The Carter Canyon Fire began Saturday as two separate fires that merged.