Scenes From America’s Largest Wildfire - The New York Times

Small fires burned inside hollowed-out trees.

On the edge of the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, firefighters worked to halt the advance of the flames.

— At the eastern edge of the Bootleg Fire on Friday afternoon, there was a surreal sign of the life that once existed in a patch of Oregon forest now turned to ash, smoke and leaveless burnt trees: the murmurs of cattle.

“We’re holding this fire line,” said Nikolas Coronado, who was part of a crew of eight firefighters from New Mexico attacking the flames and embers with axes and chain saws.

Coronado and his colleagues cleared small fires and prevented embers from getting swept up by the winds and starting new blazes.

On the front lines of the largest active wildfire in the country, hundreds of firefighters from numerous states have struggled to beat back a blaze that has burned more than 400,000 acres.

On Friday, the Bootleg Fire remained only 40 percent contained.

Small fires burned inside hollowed-out trees.

Six hours touring the edge of the Bootleg Fire on Friday — in addition to visiting small towns and firefighter camps earlier in the week — brought the scale of both the blaze and its response into focus.

The eight-person firefighting crew from New Mexico prepared to march uphill to check a section of the forest for small fires.

“This is my third year fighting fires in Oregon,” said Orlando Eustace, part of the New Mexico crew.

Firefighters estimate that 95 of every 100 embers that are carried by the wind ignite into flame when they hit the ground.

There were public and private firefighters on the line on Friday.