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West Coast fires kill more than two dozen as Oregon braces for "mass fatality event"

12 September 2020
Dan Ackermann

The known death toll from fires raging along the West Coast climbed to more than two dozen on Saturday, per AP, as officials in Oregon warned of a "mass fatality event."

The state of play: At least six deaths were reported in Oregon, 20 in California, and one in Washington state, but the death tolls are expected to rise sharply in coming days.

  • It's unclear if the 20 deaths reported by Cal Fire included one that was retracted Friday by local media. The report concerned a burned anatomical skeleton used for academic purposes was mistaken for human remains. 
  • In Oregon, emergency management director Andrew Phelps said the state was "preparing for a mass fatality event." Phelps told MSNBC, "There are going to be a number of fatalities, folks who just couldn't get warning in time and evacuate their homes and get to safety."

The big picture: Ninety-seven large fires have burned millions of acres across the western part of the U.S., per USA TODAY.

  • Evacuation orders were in place in six states including, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho and Utah.
  • Rescue workers and firefighters, meanwhile, are searching for dozens of missing people in California and Oregon.
  • President Trump, who was criticized for remaining silent on the fires for at least three weeks, plans to visit California on Monday.
  • Officials along the West Coast have urged people to stay in doors as smoke from the fires continue to choke the region.
Los Angeles County firefighters, using only hand tools, keep fire from jumping a fire break at the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest, north of Monrovia, California. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images
The Bobcat Fire burns through the Angeles National Forest, north of Monrovia, California. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images
A aerial view of the destruction from a wildfire that swept through Talent, Oregon. Photo: David Ryder/Getty Images
The sun sets through wildfire smoke in Seattle, Washington. Photo: Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.