Wildfires in Washington grow by 100 square miles

The Okanogan Complex of wildfires, where three firefighters died on Wednesday, grew by more than 100 square miles and stood at 355 square miles on Saturday morning.

With manpower and other resources stretched thin, fire managers have turned to the U.S. Army, the National Guard and even personnel from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to furnish reinforcements. But as air quality improves, the fire’s behavior could become more erratic and intense, fire officials said. The fires are threatening more than 5,100 homes.

The tragedy cast a pall in Washington state and brought to 13 the number of firefighters killed across the West this year during one of the driest and most explosive wildfire seasons on record. An untold numbers of homes and businesses have been destroy and hundreds of residents displaced.

Forecasters say a grey haze from western wildfires is expected to continue over parts of Colorado this weekend. A Harborview spokeswoman said Saturday that the firefighter is listed in satisfactory condition.

“The department is taking volunteers and training them up to the standards, and they will get out on the field only after 40hours of training”, Waller said.

The most badly hurt among the survivors was Daniel Lyon, 25, a reserve police officer in Milton, who suffered burns over 60 percent of his body and was in critical condition at a Seattle hospital.

He stayed in place as the fire raced over a ridge and barreled down toward his home, flames lapping just feet from his back porch. “The fire was racing and the winds were blowing in every direction, and then they would shift”. The three men were killed when their vehicle crashed and was engulfed in flames in one of the largest wildfires in the area spanning 16,000 acres.

When helicopters could safely fly, they sometimes found the buckets of water they dumped were blown off target from the hot spots.

The break in intensity on Saturday could end today with increasing temperatures.

On Friday, facing the fierce gusts, firefighters were in a defensive stance, according to Todd Pechota, the fire’s incident commander.

Another monster fire, the River Complex Fire, was 20% contained Wednesday after burning 45,477 acres in northwestern California.

Fire spokesman Jonathan Moor says crews are working to keep the fire away from the town but it’s hard to predict what the fire will do over the next couple of days. After better mapping it was also reduced and is about 45,929 acres.