Eastern Washington wildfire forces evacuations and destroys homes

High winds drove a wildfire into an eastern Washington neighborhood, forcing the evacuation of about 1,500 people and destroying at least 15 homes, officials said Wednesday.

One person was reported missing by a family member but officials were unable to go into the fire zone to search for them because the conditions remained dangerous Wednesday afternoon, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said during a press conference.

“They have a location to look but it’s not safe to look there at the moment,” Nowels said.

Many people living in the densely populated neighborhoods had to flee on a moment’s notice – sometimes after an officer knocked on their door – leaving behind belongings and in some cases, critical medications, Nowels said. People were being escorted Wednesday by an officer to their homes one-by-one to access those essential needs, but then they were taken back out, Nowels said.

The evacuation order for the 1,500 residents remained in effect Wednesday, said Chandra Fox, deputy director for Spokane County Emergency Management.

“Our concern is for increased winds Wednesday afternoon,” Fox said.

PHOTOS: Eastern Washington wildfire forces evacuations and destroys homes

Nowels said 15 homes had been lost in the fire but there had been no injuries or deaths reported.

The blaze started just after noon on Tuesday and quickly moved up a hill, said fire district spokesman Robert Gray. Winds then shifted, sending flames into a neighborhood, Gray said. Spokane is about 280 miles east of Seattle near the border with Idaho.

John Leavell, battalion chief with the Spokane Valley Fire Department, was one of the first people to spot the fire. He said he was driving near Interstate 90 when he saw a column of smoke.

“As I approached it, I thought this is going to be a big event – this is going fast,” he said. “It looked like waves of fire going up the hill.”

He pulled into a driveway and found a house fully engulfed in flames, so he contacted surrounding agencies and the local fire district took over while his crew started building fire lines, he said. Leavell said he didn’t know if they fire began at the house or quickly consumed it. The cause is still under investigation.

Fire crews from Washington state and Idaho attacked the fire from the ground and air, but it quickly grew to .35 square miles. It was 10% contained Wednesday morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Avista turned off power for the area as the fire progressed for the safety of firefighters.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that they authorized the use of Fire Management Assistance Grant funds to help with firefighting costs for the Spokane blaze. The regional FEMA director said the fire had the potential to constitute a major disaster. Besides threatening homes, it also threatened a school, power lines, parks, businesses and wildlife.

FEMA said this was the first fire grant awarded this season to fight a Washington wildfire.

More than 32,000 fires have burned more than 3,900 square miles so far this year in the United States, according to the fire center, which coordinates the mobilization of large-scale firefighting efforts.

That’s significantly higher than the 10-year average of just under 24,000 fires burning about 2,200 square miles by early June, according to the fire center, even though fire activity has been relatively light in recent weeks.

Weather and fuel models that predict conditions like wind, lightning and how likely plants and other materials are to burn also show an increased danger of fires in multiple areas across the U.S. in coming weeks, according to the fire center. Some regions with critical conditions for fire include portions of California, and the Southwest, Great Basin and Rocky Mountain areas.

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