2nd person found dead in Washington wildfires, hundreds of structures burned
A second person has died in wildfires in eastern Washington state that ignited during red flag conditions Friday, burning hundreds of structures and closing a section of a major interstate for days, fire officials said.
A body was found Sunday afternoon in an area burned by the Oregon fire north of Spokane, fire officials said Monday.
Another person died in connection with the Gray fire, which started Friday west of Spokane, officials said on Saturday.
Gov. Jay Inslee visited the burned areas Sunday and declared a statewide emergency over these fires — which have destroyed at least 265 structures — and others that have burned more than 53 square miles combined in Washington this year.
Inslee said Monday that he had talked with President Biden and Federal Emergency Management Administrator Deanne Criswell about securing federal dollars to help firefighting efforts.
“I appreciated President Biden’s call this morning to share his concern for the devastating Spokane County wildfires and what can be done to secure federal aid,” Inslee said Monday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Inslee said Criswell told him the agency would work with Washington to assess the damage as quickly as possible to see what federal aid the state might qualify for.
Criswell spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday as Biden flew to tour wildfire damage in Hawaii. Criswell said that FEMA had emergency response teams embedded with Washington state emergency response authorities and that “they’re ready to support any resource request as needed.”
President Biden flew to Hawaii to inspect wildfire damage in Maui while keeping tabs on havoc spurred by Tropical Storm Hilary in California.
The Gray fire started near Medical Lake in Spokane County around noon Friday and had burned about 15.6 square miles as of Monday.
The fire has destroyed or damaged at least 185 structures, with more losses expected once crews are able to better survey the destruction, according to Isabelle Hoygaard, public information officer with the Gray fire incident management team.
“A good majority” of the homes and other structures burned were in the small city of Medical Lake and nearby Silver Lake, Hoygaard said. Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper said Monday that 5,000 residents had been displaced by the fire, KREM-TV reported.
Fire crews were making progress on the Gray fire Monday, Hoygaard said, and a section of Interstate 90 reopened in the afternoon after closing due to the flames and to burned trees falling into the roadway. Some mandatory evacuations were eased on Monday, according to Spokane County Emergency Management.
Disasters like the Lahaina fire are becoming increasingly likely as warmer temperatures, development, and land management policies create conditions ripe for fire.
The Oregon Road fire began Friday afternoon northeast of Elk, Wash. It had consumed about 15.8 square miles of forest and cropland as of Monday afternoon, according to fire officials. The blaze had burned more than 80 structures and about 150 remain at risk, according to Guy Gifford, public information officer for the Oregon Road fire.
Mandatory evacuations have been in effect around both fires, and officials say that anyone who feels threatened by fire should evacuate immediately.
“There may be no formal notice that you need to evacuate,” fire managers said on the fire incident information system website.
The cause of the Gray and Oregon Road fires is under investigation. Both started in dry, windy conditions that had prompted red flag warnings of critical fire danger in the region.
Air quality around Spokane was the worst in the country on Sunday, with poor air quality continuing on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Spokane. Areas of western Washington that had experienced smoky conditions on Sunday started to see some improvement on Monday.
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