Bootleg Fire Grows to Over 241K Acres, 'Extreme Fire Conditions' Fueled Growth

The Bootleg Wildfire in Oregon has grown to over 241,000 acres and officials said on Friday that "extreme fire conditions fueled expansive fire growth."

The wildfire has burned at least 241,497 acres and is currently just 7 percent contained, according to an update posted on the InciWeb national fire information system,

The Bootleg Fire, which was first reported on July 6, is burning approximately 28 miles northeast of Klamath Falls. Officials have estimated that the fire will be 100 percent contained by November, citing the "great deal of mop-up, repair and recovery," needed for the fire to be fully contained.

There was significant overnight growth, as officials had announced Thursday that the Bootleg Fire had burned around 227,234 acres.

"For the fourth day in a row, firefighters withdrew from leading edges of the Bootleg Fire as extreme fire conditions fueled expansive fire growth," officials said in an update posted on InciWeb. "Crews worked through the night to get dozer lines around spot fires over the 34 Road to the southeastern edge of the fire. To the north, crews continued to work against very active surface fire, spotting up to a half-mile ahead of the main fire, and dry southern winds."

Rob Allen, Incident Commander for the Pacific Northwest Area Incident Management Team 2, which is responding to the Bootleg Fire, said that the fire's "perimeter is more than 200 miles long—that's an enormous amount of line to build and hold."

Allen continued, "We are continuing to use every resource from dozers to air tankers to engage where it's safe to do so especially with the hot, dry, windy conditions predicted to worsen into the weekend."

In a Thursday tweet, the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, shared a satellite photo of the large pyrocumulus that collapsed on Thursday, which spread embers from the fire towards the east.

"Here's some satellite imagery from yesterday afternoon showing pyrocumulus development and resultant satellite-derived lightning from the #BootlegFire in Southern Oregon. 5 cloud to ground positive lightning flashes were observed to the east of the fire perimeter," the tweet said.

A video posted to Twitter by WeatherNation captured the pyrocumulus cloud, which was created by the fire's intense heat and smoke.

"Check out this incredible pyrocumulus cloud in Oregon as the #BootlegFire continues to exhibit explosive growth," the tweet read.

The smoke from the Bootleg Fire was pushed by winds from the Southeast towards the cities of Paisley, Frenchglen, and Burns, according to officials. A smoke outlook update revealed that communities located south of the Bootleg Fire on Thursday experienced "increased smoke in the morning that cleared by mid-day."

"Tomorrow's weather and fire behavior will support the same smoke ventilation patterns in the forecast area as seen over the past 2 days. Low-lying areas south and southwest of the fire should expect concentrations of smoke to increase overnight with good dispersal during the day," officials wrote.