U.S.
Elaine Thompson / AP
U.S. crews battling wildfires raging unchecked across the Pacific Northwest contended with high winds late into Thursday, a day after three firefighters were killed and four others were injured in Washington state.
Authorities late Thursday ordered the immediate evacuation of the small community of Tonasket, nestled along the bank of the Okanogan River in north-central Washington, impacting about 1,000 people.
On Wednesday, some 4,000 households in the riverfront towns of Twisp and Winthrop, in the foothills of the Cascade mountains about 75 miles southwest of Tonasket, were also forced to flee the encroaching blaze.
The Twisp blaze is just one of more than 70 large wildfires or clusters of fires in several drought-stricken Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Montana, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise reported.
Dozens of homes have been reduced to ruins in Idaho and Oregon in recent days.
The fires have stretched civilian firefighting resources, prompting authorities to call the U.S. Army and Canadian crews to help, as well as mobilize personnel from Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 2008. Nearly six dozen fire managers and specialists from those two countries were due to arrive in Idaho on Aug. 23.
U.S. wildland blazes have claimed the lives of at least 13 firefighters and support personnel so far this year, four more than died in the line of duty during all of 2014, the interagency fire center said.
President Barack Obama has directed his administration to consult with local and state officials while the threat persists. The governors of Oregon and Idaho joined Washington state in calling up state National Guard troops backed by military aircraft to help combat the fires.
The Twisp blaze is the deadliest. Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters in an engine crew died on Wednesday while battling what authorities called a “hell storm” of flames, which overtook their position after they were involved in a vehicle accident, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.
Each of their bodies were removed from the scene Thursday in an individual ambulance, escorted by more than a dozen fire and police vehicles with lights flashing. Firefighters along the route saluted by holding their helmets over their hearts.
The dead were Thomas Zbyszewski, a 20-year-old physics major and actor at Whitman College in southeastern Washington; Andrew Zajac, 26, and Richard Wheeler, 31. “These are three big heroes protecting small towns,” Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee was reported as saying in The Seattle Times newspaper Thursday.
Four other firefighters were injured, one of them hospitalized in critical condition with burns over 60 percent of his body.
The Twisp-area fire, part of a larger cluster of fires dubbed the Okanogan Complex, has charred 7,873 acres of rural brush and dry timber about 115 miles northeast of Seattle since erupting on Wednesday, said Rick Scriven, a spokesman for agencies involved in fighting the fires.
As of late Thursday afternoon, crews had yet to establish firm containment lines around the blaze, Scriven said, adding that suppression efforts across the Northwest had been complicated by “sporadic and erratic winds.”
The blaze near Twisp was burning in Okanogan County, the same area burned over by last July's massive Carlton Complex fire, the state's largest on record, which destroyed about 300 homes as it blackened 250,000 acres.
About 50 miles south of Twisp, the so-called First Creek fire was posing a renewed threat to populated areas after engulfing more than 68,000 acres, with 39 homes and 28 outbuildings destroyed days ago near the resort town of Chelan, according to sheriff's spokesman Rich Magnussen.
The First Creek blaze jumped containment lines on Wednesday evening, triggering road closures and prompting authorities to extend evacuation orders to some 800 people, Magnussen said.
Speaking in Chelan, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said his agency expects to exhaust its firefighting budget by early September but said necessary funds and assets would continue to be made available where needed.
Al Jazeera and wire services
Winds complicate efforts
The Twisp blaze has proven the deadliest. Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters in an engine crew died on Wednesday while battling what authorities called a “hellstorm” of flames, which overtook their position after they were involved in a vehicle accident, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.
Each of their bodies were removed from the scene Thursday in an individual ambulance, escorted by more than a dozen fire and police vehicles with lights flashing. Firefighters along the route held their hands and helmets over their hearts.
Among the dead was Thomas Zbyszewski, a 20-year-old physics major and actor at Whitman College in southeastern Washington; Andrew Zajac, 26, and Richard Wheeler, 31. “These are three big heroes protecting small towns,” Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee was reported as saying in The Seattle Times newspaper Thursday.
Four other firefighters were injured, one of them hospitalized in critical condition with burns over 60 percent of his body.
The Twisp-area fire, part of a larger cluster of fires dubbed the Okanogan Complex, has burnt 7,873 acres of rural brush and dry timber about 115 miles northeast of Seattle since erupting on Wednesday, said Rick Scriven, a spokesman authorized to speak about the blaze.
As of late Thursday afternoon, crews had yet to establish firm containment lines around the blaze, Scriven said, adding that suppression efforts across the Northwest had been complicated by "sporadic and erratic winds."
The blaze near Twisp was burning in Okanogan County, the same area impacted by last July's massive Carlton Complex fire, the state's largest on record, which destroyed about 300 homes as it blackened 250,000 acres.
About 50 miles south of Twisp, the so-called First Creek fire was posing a renewed threat to populated areas after engulfing more than 68,000 acres, with 39 homes and 28 outbuildings destroyed days ago near the resort town of Chelan, according to sheriff's spokesman Rich Magnussen.
The First Creek blaze jumped containment lines on Wednesday evening, triggering road closures and prompting authorities to extend evacuation orders to some 800 people, Magnussen said.
Speaking in Chelan, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told reporters his agency expects to exhaust its firefighting budget by early September but said necessary funds and assets would continue to be made available where needed.
The governors of Oregon and Idaho joined Washington state in calling up state National Guard troops backed by military aircraft to help combat blazes.
Al Jazeera and wire services
Okanogan County sheriff says four other firefighters were injured in windy, shifting 'hell storm'
Natural fires used to thin woodlands, but decades of putting out blazes has made forests denser and more flammable
The wildfire had charred almost 22 square miles by Monday evening and is 5 percent contained, officials say.
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