Three firefighters killed battling Washington state wildfire

Authorities say three firefighters were killed and three to four others were injured Wednesday as raging wildfires advanced on the towns of Twisp and Winthrop in north-central Washington.

“Our goal is to avoid any accidental fires on OPRD property that would further tax limited firefighting resources”, said MG Devereux, the department’s deputy director.

Governor Jay Inslee said his heart breaks over the loss of life and warned that conditions remain extremely unsafe.

Firefighters brace for more high winds in the forecast through Friday that threaten to stoke wildfires burning across Eastern Washington.

Wildfires burning in Okanogan County had already forced the evacuation of the small town of Conconully, about 20 miles northwest of Omak. But just before 6 pm PST, officials confirmed that the entire town of Twisp has been issued a level three evacuation.

Near Chelan, the three merged fires known as the Chelan Complex had grown to almost 70,000 acres by Tuesday night, but firefighters were able to contain its spread on the south and east sides.

Fires burning in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation has consumed 50 homes and 80 outbuildings near the logging town of Kamiah, Idaho, since it was sparked by lightning last week.

Officials are working to notify the families of the firefighters, Rogers said.

Based on “extreme fire danger”, Washington state’s Department of Natural Resources said on Wednesday it was moving to shut down all industrial forest activities, including timber harvest operations and road construction, across nearly all of its eastern forested areas, which the agency believes to be the first such action in more than 20 years.

Six helicopters and two airplanes were assisting firefighters. “We were lucky to only have about two house within the town limits destroyed”, Goeddes said.

The fire has destroyed at least 73 structures in Chelan and Douglas counties.

“The fireplace is still there”, she said. “We’re going to see probably some impressive fire behavior in the next couple days”.

She said they would rebuild.