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‘It’s like a war zone … there’s nothing to save,’ says Spokane resident
Some residents returned to devastated neighbourhoods in eastern Washington state to find their homes levelled by wildfires that swept across a parched landscape over the weekend, leaving yards covered in charred debris. In some cases, only chimneys remained standing.
The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second-largest city, had burned about about 32 square kilometres by Monday and filled the sky with smoke and haze.
Light winds and cooler temperatures helped firefighters, but about 700 buildings had been destroyed and some 67,000 people were under evacuation orders.
In one Spokane neighbourhood, blackened vehicles, a boat twisted by the heat and melted plastic recycling bins remained.
Across the street, lawns were still green and houses had been spared, as residents continued using hoses and sprinklers to water their properties.
Among those who returned were Miriam and Daniel Sim, both 76. Miriam held a hand over her mouth as she surveyed the ruins of the home where they had lived since 2005.
“It’s like a war zone,” Miriam said. “There’s nothing to save.”
“At our age, do we want to rebuild?” her husband asked.
No deaths or major injuries reported
Cpl. Mark Gregory, a spokesperson for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, said the county initially received nearly 300 reports of missing people. By Monday, all but 14 had been cleared.
Those outstanding reports more likely represented people who had not been in contact since evacuating rather than people who were missing or in danger, authorities said.
The Spokane-area wildfires were completely uncontained, said Courtney James, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
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Destructive wildfires prompt evacuations in Washington state
They were among dozens burning across the western U.S., straining the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. At least 1,000 square kilometres had burned across Washington.
Authorities warned people not to fly drones near burned areas, saying they could delay aerial firefighting operations.
‘So much loss for so many people’
Angela and Wayde Deatherage, both 49, evacuated shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday with a son, grabbing a few bins of family photos and heirloom rings but not much else. Roughly 30 minutes later, their security camera began sending fire alerts to Angela’s phone.
Wayde Deatherage took some back roads and returned by early evening. He stopped at the end of the street and called his wife: “Our house is done.”
Deatherage, however, wasn’t done with his neighbourhood. He propped a hose at another house so it sprayed the property. He called it simple prevention — and it worked. That home survived.
The couple returned to their property Sunday.
“It’s just ash,” Angela Deatherage said of the home where they had lived for nearly 22 years. “It’s like our house sunk down in the basement. … There’s just so much loss for so many people.”
Friends and relatives of people affected by the fires posted online appeals for money, clothes and basic necessities. Kory and MacKensie Aspaas were away with their children when the disaster hit.
“They are coming back from being out of town to a life that’s been completely wiped out,” friend Kali Butler said.
Officials said Sunday that the evacuees in Spokane included patients at its U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital. Investigators had yet to determine how the blazes started.
Grassland burns in Idaho, Oregon and Utah
Spokane was hardly the only place struggling to contain fires.
Crews using bulldozers and helicopters continued for a 10th day to fight a fire that has burned nearly 1,360 square kilometres of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon. The area is home to cattle ranches, and authorities said the fire is threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures.
The weather in the area was expected to remain sunny and dry well into the week, with temperatures rising to more than 32 C on Wednesday. Officials say the fire was caused by lightning.
Heavy winds helped flames jump containment lines.
The fire was moving north toward Fillmore, a town of about 2,600 people and the seat of Millard County. Mandatory evacuations were ordered Sunday evening for the town’s southern portion.
The National Weather Service issued warnings about the air quality across the northwest. It issued red flag fire warnings for parts of Utah and Montana and western Nebraska, and extreme heat warnings for the southern parts of Arizona, California and Nevada and northern Montana.
Spokane sets up shelter
In Spokane, about 400 people were staying at the city’s main convention centre, which was turned into a shelter, officials said.
Spokane Public Schools opened a free emergency drop-in camp for children on Monday. Trials at the county court were pushed to Aug. 10.
Several larger fires continued to burn in less populated areas northwest of Spokane.
— The Associated Press
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Credit belongs to: www.cbc.ca
