3 dead, hundreds of homes destroyed in West Coast wildfires

OROVILLE, Calilfornia -- Three people died Wednesday in a wind-whipped Northern California wildfire that has forced thousands of people from their homes while carving a 25-mile path of destruction through mountainous terrain and parched foothills.

California Highway Patrol Officer Ben Draper told the Bay Area News Group that one person was found in a car and apparently had been trying to escape the flames.

A climate scientist said that the fire’s rapid spread was unprecedented. Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, indicated the fire burned an estimated 400 square miles in a day.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of homes and other buildings were believed to have been damaged or destroyed by the blaze northeast of San Francisco.

The North Complex fire was one of more than two dozen burning in the California. Other wildfires charred huge swaths of the West.

Firefighters in the Pacific Northwest were scrambling to keep up with the multiple catastrophic fires in their region that had forced people to flee their homes and trapped firefighters and civilians.

Oregon's governor said Wednesday that hundreds of homes had been destroyed and one fire leveled an entire Washington state farming town.

Pacific Northwest firefighters have been stunned by the intensity and speed of the blazes in areas that almost never experience such fire activity because of the zone's normally cool and wet climate.

Gusting winds with top speeds between 30 to 50 mph were forecast through Thursday.