Wildfires near Spokane forced 60,000 evacuations and destroyed 600 structures. Avista outages fell to 10,000 from 30,000 as crews worked to repair lines.
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Wildfires near Spokane, Washington, forced 60,000 people from their homes Sunday and destroyed at least 600 structures, including homes and businesses, officials said.
The fires covered about 8.2 square miles around the city, which is Washington's second largest. They were part of a rash of blazes across the western U.S. that stretched federal and state agencies, along with local crews. In all, roughly 390 square miles have burned across the state, and some fires remain uncontained.
Officials said there have been no reports of injuries or missing people. They cautioned that the response is still in its early stages. Evacuees include patients from the U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital in Spokane.
Video from the area showed buildings on fire and black smoke billowing near neighborhoods. Ruined homes stood with only chimneys remaining. Officials said the weather is not expected to provide relief in coming days. Forecasts call for continued dry conditions.
"We are not out of danger," Sen. Maria Cantwell said during a news conference in Spokane. "The next couple of days will be challenging."
The cause of the fires has not been determined.
Elsewhere, crews using bulldozers and helicopters spent a 10th day fighting a fire that has burned nearly 525 square miles of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon. The blaze threatens more than 600 homes and 800 other structures, many in cattle-ranch country. Lightning started that fire. The forecast calls for sunny, dry weather with temperatures climbing above 90 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday.
In central Utah, a separate fire more than doubled in size over the weekend, expanding from 16 square miles to about 56 square miles by Sunday morning. Local law enforcement said more than 100 cattle have been killed. Officials called the fire catastrophic. Heavy winds pushed flames across containment lines overnight. The fire is 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 southern part of the town.
The National Weather Service issued air-quality alerts across the Northwest. Red flag fire warnings cover parts of Utah and Montana, along with western Nebraska. Extreme heat warnings are posted for southern Arizona and southern California. Nevada and northern Montana are also under heat warnings.
Temperatures in Spokane Sunday were forecast to stay below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph were expected by afternoon. Benjamin Cossel, public information officer for the federal response team from California, said the winds and steep terrain are working against fire crews. "We have weather working against us, and we have terrain working against us," he said.
Three fires are burning in the Spokane area: the Old Trails Fire and the Fairview Fire, plus a third blaze called the Meadowview Fire. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday. The National Weather Service issued a "particularly dangerous situation" red flag alert for eastern Washington.
Cossel explained that as temperatures rise during the day, cooler air near the ground that holds winds back will lift, letting winds move through the area. The Spokane River runs through a city of about 229,000 people, and steep canyons on both banks channel the wind. "They push the fire through the canyons, up, up the slopes, and then outside the slopes and around," he said. "It's very, very hilly, very, very steep slopes, a lot of canyons that create really turbulent, really challenging sort of wind scenarios."
About 400 people were staying at a shelter set up at the Spokane Convention Center, officials said Sunday. Spokane County Commissioner Chris Jordan said relatives of his had evacuated from their home and did not know whether it was still standing. "They're in their car and all they can see is smoke everywhere, and it was incredibly scary for so many people," he said.
Avista Corp., the region's electric and natural gas utility, said about 10,000 customers were without power Sunday, down from a peak of 30,000. Heather Rosenstrater, the company's president and CEO, said Avista needs to repair two transmission lines. She said it's possible that demand for electricity over the next few days could cause outages.
Several larger fires continued to burn in less populated areas northwest of Spokane. One, about 80 miles from the city, has burned about 210 square miles. Another fire in eastern Oregon, roughly 70 miles to the northwest in the Stinkingwater Mountains, has burned about 336 square miles.
"The whole northwest is heavily impacted right now," said Keila Vizcarra, spokesperson for the federal team from California handling the Big Grass Fire in western Idaho and eastern Oregon.
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