'All gone:' Residents return to burned-out Oregon towns as many West Coast wildfires keep burning

Smoke from wildfires covers the skyline at sunset in Seattle, Washington, U.S., September 12, 2020. REUTERS/Karen Ducey

TALENT, Ore. (Reuters) - Search-and-rescue teams, with dogs in tow, were deployed across the blackened ruins of southern Oregon towns on Sunday as smoldering wildfires still ravaged U.S. Pacific Coast states after causing widespread destruction.

A blitz of wildfires across Oregon, California and Washington has destroyed thousands of homes and a half dozen small towns this summer, scorching more than 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) and killing more than two dozen people since early August.