Spokane, Washington wildfires destroy 700 buildings, force 64,000 to evacuate

WASHINGTON – Wildfires burning on the outskirts of Spokane, Washington, entered a third day on Monday, destroying at least 700 buildings and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate, according to local officials.

The three major fires have burned more than 8,000 acres since they erupted on Saturday in and around suburbs north of Spokane, a city of about 230,000 people near the Idaho border. Officials said the fires have become the top wildfire suppression priority in the United States as dozens of large blazes continue to burn across the drought-stricken Pacific Northwest.

Authorities said about 64,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders as of Monday, a sharp increase from roughly 4,000 the previous day.

Benjamin Cossel, spokesperson for the incident command center, said at least 700 structures, most of them homes, had been destroyed. Aerial infrared surveys also indicated that another 400 buildings may have been damaged or destroyed.

The cause of the fires remains under investigation.

No injuries or deaths have been confirmed, but officials warned the toll could change as firefighters gain access to heavily damaged areas.

"There’s a high probability that will change in the coming days," Cossel said, noting that some communities remain inaccessible because of intense fire activity.

Authorities also reported an unspecified number of missing people as the flames spread from wooded areas into neighborhoods and commercial districts.

About 1,100 firefighters were battling the Spokane-area fires on Monday. Nationwide, more than 29,000 firefighting personnel have been deployed, with the largest concentrations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The agency said more than 100 large new wildfires broke out across 15 states on Sunday, most of them in the Pacific Northwest, stretching firefighting resources.

Meanwhile, wildfires also continued to burn across British Columbia, Canada, where officials said record drought conditions have fueled "explosive" fire behavior in the southern part of the province.

Fire officials said Spokane's aerial firefighting resources currently include four fixed-wing air tankers, but no water-dropping helicopters are available.

Crews are hoping to make progress while cooler temperatures and lighter winds provide a brief window of favorable weather through Tuesday. However, forecasters expect extreme heat, low humidity and stronger winds to return later this week, increasing the risk of further fire spread.

Despite some improvement in fire activity compared with Sunday, officials said it was too early to lift most evacuation orders because of the continuing threat.

As of Monday, none of the three Spokane-area fires had been contained.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported that the United States has recorded 44,722 wildfires so far this year, the highest number for this point in the year in at least a decade. Nearly 5.2 million acres have burned, the largest area consumed between January and early August since 2022.

Scientists say prolonged drought, extreme heat and other conditions contributing to the rise in wildfire activity across North America, Europe and other regions are largely linked to human-caused climate change. -Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, editing by Deepa Babington/Reuters