Firefighters in Washington state are battling wildfires that have forced 60,000 people to flee and destroyed hundreds of buildings as drought and extreme heat fuel an “extraordinary” fire season in the Pacific north-west.
Fifteen major blazes are raging across the state, David Upthegrove, the head of Washington’s department of natural resources, told reporters over the weekend.
“It’s not a normal season,” he said. “A confluence of weather conditions, a confluence of fires throughout the west, are stretching our resources and challenging the individuals in this response.”
Spokane, a city of 230,000 in north-eastern Washington near the Idaho border, has been particularly hard hit, with three fires burning in the area. While no deaths have been reported, officials confirmed that at least 600 structures had been damaged or destroyed and that none of the fires are contained.
The fires around Spokane forced rapid evacuations and prompted officials to open emergency shelters to support some of the 60,000 people displaced.
“Driving around looking at the homes – it’s just one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Geoff Beadles, a Spokane resident who evacuated with his fiancee and dogs, told AFP.
Light winds and lower temperatures were expected to aid firefighters before warmer weather arrives later in the week.
Even before the fires exploded around Spokane, state officials had warned that the year had already been one of the busiest wildfire years on record.
“Our firefighters are already stretched thin across the state, and with more heat and wind expected this weekend and for the rest of the summer, any new spark on our tinder-dry landscapes can lead to another devastating wildfire,” Upthegrove said on Saturday.
The National Weather Service last week issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red-flag alert and noted that eastern Washington was facing extreme weather risk.
Bob Ferguson, Washington’s governor, declared a state of emergency on Saturday due to drought, unusually high temperatures and high winds “exacerbating our record-setting wildfires”, and banned most burning in the state through September.
The state is in the midst of a record-setting fourth consecutive statewide drought, Ferguson noted in his announcement.
The governor has requested federal assistance to respond to the wildfires and said he had been in contact with Donald Trump and other administration officials.
It has been a challenging fire season across the Pacific north-west, with Oregon already nearing its largest on record.
AFP contributed to this story
