Three firefighters were killed and four others were injured battling a wildfire in Washington state on Wednesday, the governor’s office announced. The change in wind pushed back crews fighting a new, small fire, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers tells NBC, but officials are releasing few details on how the firefighters died.
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He says his heart breaks over the loss of life, and maintains conditions are dangerous, asking residents and visitors to heed to evacuation orders. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site.
“It was their calling, but the loss for their families is immense and I know the community will come together to support them”, Inslee said.
Strong, erratic winds are fanning the flames and officials were evacuating the entire north-central Washington towns of Winthrop and Twisp, which have a combined population of about 1,300.
On Tuesday, 200 people in the town of Conconully, also in the same county, were evacuated over the threat posed by wildfires.
Firefighters braced for more high winds in the forecast through Friday that threatened to stoke wildfires burning across Eastern Washington. Residents were asked to head south immediately, and told to be aware of their surroundings and leave carefully.
With seven Western states battling devastating bushfires, the National Interagency Fire Centre is mobilising active duty US soldiers to aid thousands of firefighters in their efforts. There are 649 firefighters assigned to the blaze, one of 11 large fires burning across Oregon.
Blazes around Washington have reportedly destroyed more than 50 homes and 60 other structures, while they’ve also destroyed more than 235,000 acres of land.
The Chelan fires are about 30 percent contained, Lawatch said.
One area fire chief with a rural fire department put out a call for help to fight the Carpenter Road fire and “got nothing”, said Stevens County District 1 Fire Chief Mike Bucy, who oversees a nearby district adjacent to Spokane. The assistance could be used to pay for costs of emergency protective measures, emergency response, and debris removal.
Inslee declared a state of emergency on June 26.
“We have weeks of fire season left, and it is incumbent upon us to make sure that above all else, we continue to protect the public’s safety”, Brown said in a statement.
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The move to a Level 4 Industrial Fire Precaution Level (IFPL) is based on extreme fire danger across the eastern half of the state.
