Wildfires Destroy 600 Homes, Force 5,000 Evacuations in Eastern Washington

About 5,000 homes have been evacuated and about 600 homes, businesses and other buildings have been destroyed by wildfires that remained uncontained Sunday in eastern Washington state, authorities said.

The fires burned more than 8.2 square miles (about 21 square kilometers) around Spokane, the second largest city in Washington, and were among dozens across the western U.S. — stretching the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. No deaths have yet been reported from the fires in the Spokane area.

While the high temperature Sunday in Spokane was forecast to remain below 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), wind gusts from 35 mph (56 kph) to 45 mph (72 kph) were expected later in the day, said Benjamin Cossel, public information officer for the federal response team from California called in Saturday night to deal with the Spokane-area fires.

“We have weather working against us, and we have terrain working against us,” Cossel said.

There were three fires in the Spokane area, the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire and the Meadowview Fire, and the state issued air quality warnings. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday, and the National Weather Service issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag alert for eastern Washington.

Cossel said that as it gets warmer during the day, cool air that's now closer to the ground and keeping winds at bay will rise, allowing those winds to move through the area. The Spokane River cuts through the city of about 229,000 people, and there are steep canyons on both sides that channel the wind.

“They push the fire through the canyons, up, up the slopes, and then outside the slopes and around," he said. “It's very, very hilly, very, very steep slopes, a lot of canyons that create really turbulent, really challenging sort of wind scenarios.”

Authorities in Spokane set up a shelter at the city's main convention center.