#Before-and-after shots show extent of wildfire destruction in Oregon

Satellite image show southern Medford, Phoenix and Talent, Oregon, before and after the wildfires.
via REUTERS

The before-and-after images photos show neighboring cities of Talent and Phoenix in Jackson county all but reduced to char by the fast-spreading Almeda fire, which began Tuesday morning in Ashland, Oregon Live reported.

“Many businesses have been burned down,” said Phoenix Mayor Chris Luz. “Certain neighborhoods, including my own, have been burned down. There are many, many, many homes that are gone.”

A satellite image shows an overview of destroyed homes after the Alameda Fire in Phoenix, Oregon.

via REUTERS

Security officials survey the Bear Lakes Estates neighborhood which was left devastated by the Almeda fire in Phoenix, Oregon.

REUTERS

A color infrared satellite image shows destroyed homes after the Alameda Fire in Phoenix, Oregon.

via REUTERS

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He said roughly a dozen businesses in the city of about 4,650 were destroyed along the town’s main thoroughfare.

“The house next to my house is burning as we speak,” Luz said.

Talent City Manager Sandra Spelliscy said her city, which has a population of 6,465, looked like “a bomb blast that has just leveled everything.”

A satellite image shows an overview of Phoenix, Oregon before the Alameda Fire.

via REUTERS

A color infra-red satellite image shows an overview of Phoenix, Oregon, U.S. after the Alameda Fire.

via REUTERS

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“There are certain neighborhoods where there is just literally nothing standing,” she said. “There is literally nothing standing except chimneys and a burned-out relic of a water heater or a burned-out car.”

At a press conference Wednesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said five towns were “substantially destroyed” by the intense blazes, as widespread evacuations were ordered in the northwestern part of the state.

“This could be the greatest loss of human lives and property due to wildfire in our state’s history,” she said.

Two people were confirmed dead in the Santiam Canyon region, 60 miles south of Portland, officials said, warning that the death toll would rise.

Fourteen wildfires had broken out across Oregon as of Wednesday night, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The infernos are among a swath burning along the West Coast, including in California and Washington.

With Post wires