BEAVERCREEK, Ore. -- Nearly all the dozens of people reported missing after a devastating blaze in southern Oregon have been accounted for, authorities said over the weekend as crews battled wildfires that have killed at least 33 people from California to Washington state.
President Donald Trump planned to visit California today, joining local and federal fire and emergency officials for a briefing on the crisis.
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The flames up and down the West Coast have destroyed neighborhoods, leaving nothing but charred rubble and burned-out cars, forced tens of thousands to flee and cast a shroud of smoke that has given Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., some of the worst air quality in the world.
The smoke filled the air with an acrid metallic smell like pennies and spread to nearby states. While making it difficult to breathe, it helped firefighters by blocking the sun and turning the weather cooler as they tried to get a handle on the blazes, which were slowing in some places.
But warnings of low moisture and strong winds that could fan the flames added urgency to the battle. The so-called red flag warnings stretched from hard-hit southern Oregon to Northern California and extended through this evening.
Lexi Soulios, her husband and son were afraid they would have to evacuate for a second time because of the weather. They left their small southern Oregon town of Talent last week when they saw a "big, huge flow of dark smoke coming up," then went past roadblocks Friday to pick through the charred ruins of their home.
While they are staying farther south in Ashland, she said by text message that the forecast may mean they could be on the move again.
"So this isn't over yet but we just had the car checked so we feel prepared," Soulios wrote.
Authorities last week reported as many as 50 people could be missing after a wildfire in the Ashland area. But the Jackson County sheriff's office said late Saturday that four people had died in the blaze and the number of missing was down to one.
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At least 10 people have been killed in the past week throughout Oregon. Officials have said more people are missing from other fires, and the number of fatalities is likely to rise, though they have not said how high the toll could go as they search. In California, 22 people have died, and one in Washington state. Thousands of homes and other buildings have burned.
Barbara Rose Bettison, 25, left her farm among the trees and fields of Eagle Creek, outside Portland, when a sheriff's deputy knocked on her door Tuesday. They drove away on a road that became an ominous dividing line, with blue skies on one side and the other filled with black and brown smoke.
She took shelter at an Elks Lodge near Portland, where evacuees wrapped themselves in blankets and set up tents out back.
"It's terrifying. We've never had any form of natural disaster," she said.
Bettison, a UPS driver, was able to get out with her chickens, rabbits and cats. She hasn't been back, but neighbors said it is so smoky that they can't see their hands in front of their faces.
"I'm hoping there has not been too much damage, because it would break my heart," she said.
Farther south in Talent, Dave Monroe came to his burned home, partially hoping he'd find his three cats.
"We thought we'd get out of this summer with no fires," he said. "There is something going on, that's for sure, man. Every summer we're burning up."
HEAT FOR PRESIDENT
Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger wildfires in the U.S. to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas.
The Democratic governors of all three states say the fires are a consequence of climate change, taking aim at Trump ahead of his visit.
"It is maddening right now that when we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast of the United States on fire, to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
At a rally in Nevada, Trump again blamed inadequate forest management, which White House adviser Peter Navarro echoed on CNN's "State of the Union," saying that for many years in California, "particularly because of budget cutbacks, there was no inclination to manage our forests."
The announcement of the visit, which was added to a three-day campaign swing through Nevada and Arizona, came after Trump tweeted Friday night thanking the firefighters and emergency medical workers. It was the president's first acknowledgment in almost a month of a wildfire season that has claimed at least 33 lives and destroyed millions of acres in California, Oregon and Washington.
"I have approved 37 Stafford Act Declarations, including Fire Management Grants to support their brave work," Trump wrote, referring to an act that frees up federal funds and other resources to help supplement state and local efforts. "We are with them all the way!"
Trump's Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, on Saturday said in a statement: "To the families who have lost everything; to the people forced to evacuate their homes; to the brave firefighters and first responders risking their lives to protect their neighbors -- please know that we stand with you now."
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., pushed back on Trump's characterization, telling ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday that the devastation was the result of a combination of ills, including rising temperatures caused by global climate change.
"It's just a big and devastating lie," Merkley said of Trump's statement. "The Cascade snowpacks have gotten smaller. Our forests have gotten drier. Our ocean has gotten warmer and more acidic." The changes, Merkley said, are the "consequences of a warming planet."
"We need to have to have a president follow the science," he added.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, also accused Trump of negligence in responding to the fires. In an interview with CNN, he suggested the president was reluctant to help California, Oregon and Washington because they have Democratic governors.
"Leadership at the very top needs to be stronger, earlier," Garcetti said, alleging that Trump's "blaming of blue states over red states" in how he handles natural disasters hurts the federal response. "We need leadership that is equal across this country, instead of being partisan and divisive," Garcetti said.
SMOKY SKIES
In Portland, Christopher Murillo and his husband, Leo Cruz, braved the smoke to walk their three dogs and pick up coffee from Starbucks. The smoke was "excruciating," said Murillo. "It's itchy, like a constant dry mouth, like wanting to hack up something and it's all this white nasty stuff."
They haven't seen the sun for days, said Murillo, who grows organic produce and flowers with his husband. The skies are depressing, and the haze is inescapable -- even at night, inside. "It's like trying to gasp for air while you're drowning," he said.
Firefighter Steve McAdoo has run from one blaze to another in Oregon for six days, seeing buildings burn and trees light up like candles.
"We lost track of time because you can't see the sun and you've been up for so many days," he said. "Forty-eight to 72 hours nonstop, you feel like you're in a dream."
As he and his team battled the blazes, McAdoo worried about his wife and daughter at home just miles away. They evacuated safely, but at times he could communicate with them only in one-word text messages: "busy."
McAdoo and other firefighters got their first real break Sunday to take showers, shave and check their equipment. And though it's a faint shadow of its usual self, he can finally see the sun.
"It's nice today to at least see the dot in the sky," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Lindsay Whitehurst, Sara Cline and Manuel Valdes of The Associated Press; by Annie Karni of the New York Times; and by Derek Hawkins, Samantha Schmidt, Paul Kane and Tom Hamburger of The Washington Post.
