CONTAINING THE FLAMES: Growing fires charge across Western states

The firefighter was transferred Friday night time and is listed in passable situation, Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg stated Saturday.

“Our Andrew was a man that you could count on to do everything in his power to protect the people in the places that he loved”, the family of one of the lost firefighters, Andrew Zajac, said in a statement Sunday.

On Saturday, strong winds blew smoke from the blazes in eastern Oregon and Washington across the Cascade mountain range. Another firefighter remains in critical condition with burns covering 60 percent of his body. The four firefighters who were injured were among those who fled on foot, Rogers said.

The Governor’s Office says as of Sunday there will be 700 members of the Washington National Guard joining thousands of firefighters across the state to fight the fires. He was initially handled and launched from a hospital in Okanogan, after which requested to go to Harborview, Redling stated. 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.

When flames advanced late last week toward Chelan, a town of about 4,000 people, authorities evacuated many residents from the area. Resources were so strained that Saturday, fire officials planned to provide basic fire training to about 200 volunteers who have machinery like backhoes and bulldozers so they can use them to help dig fire lines.

About 145 kilometres west in Oliver, the winds had already changed by Saturday evening and fire information officer Heather Rice said the community was “totally smoked in”. The official tally of three houses and 33 different buildings misplaced was very preliminary, he stated.

Three firefighters died fighting the blaze Wednesday when it changed course abruptly and their vehicle crashed. We will also keep the injured firefighters in our prayers.

The state is battling 16 large wildfires that have consumed more than 590,000 acres.

Wildfires have been raging throughout states across the northwest for more than two months. Firefighters focused on defending Hume Lake Christian Camps on Saturday.

Obama’s declaration releases federal funds to help in relief efforts in the northwestern state, where several fires are burning out of control and three firefighters have been killed. “It’s a lot calmer day in terms of wind”. Items of basis, charred metallic pipes and a burned-out truck have been all that remained. “And please, everybody, come home, because that’s all we really want, is everybody home”.

The state Department of Ecology’s air quality map showed those conditions in some measuring sites from Olympia to Mount Vernon as of 7 p.m. Saturday.

Forecasters say a grey haze from western wildfires is expected to continue over parts of Colorado this weekend.