Washington Wildfire: Evacuations In Place As 3 Firefighters Killed

Fact checked
wildfire

Three US forest service firefighters have been killed and four others have been injured battling a wildfire in Washington state on Wednesday.

The firefighters died after their vehicle crashed and was likely caught by flames as they battled the blaze.

In a statement, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said his heart “breaks over the loss of life.”

The firefighters were battling a fire near Twisp when changing winds trapped them in the fire. One of the injured firefighters is in critical condition, King 5 News reported.

Evacuation orders for around 4,000 people have been issued for Twisp and neighboring Winthrop according to the Seattle Times .

“All residents should evacuate in the direction of Pateros or Omak immediately. Be aware of your surroundings, notify neighbors who may not have communications, and leave carefully,” the Okanogan County Emergency Management wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday.

RT reports: The fire near Twisp is just one of at least five raging in Okanogan County. The group of fires have altogether doubled in size since Tuesday and ripped through more than 37,000 acres of land by Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, 200 people in the town of Conconully, also in the same county, were evacuated over the threat posed by wildfires.

Roughly 4,000 homes in the region have been evacuated, Angela Seydel of the county emergency department told the Associated Press.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.