SPOKANE, Wash. , Some residents returned to devastated neighborhoods in eastern Washington state Monday to find their homes leveled by wildfires that erupted across a parched landscape over the weekend, leaving yards covered in charred debris. In some cases, only chimneys remained standing.
Fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second-largest city, ranked among the most destructive in state history. About 700 buildings had been destroyed , a number expected to climb , and roughly 67,000 people remained under evacuation orders. Investigators had not determined the cause.
“Hundreds of people have completely lost their homes and farms, and many are prohibited from returning to their homes or neighborhoods as crews continue to extinguish smoldering embers,” the state’s entire congressional delegation wrote Monday in asking President Donald Trump to approve an expedited emergency declaration.
The fires jumped roads and rivers, burning about 12.5 square miles (about 32 square kilometers) by Monday. Smoke and haze filled the sky. Calmer winds and lower temperatures arrived to help firefighters, though hotter and drier conditions were forecast to return by midweek.
In one Spokane neighborhood, blackened vehicles, a boat twisted by heat and melted plastic recycling bins remained. Across the street, lawns were still green and houses stood intact as residents continued running hoses and sprinklers to douse their properties.
Among those who returned were Miriam and Daniel Sim, both 76. Miriam covered her mouth with her hand as she surveyed the ruins of the home where they had lived since 2005.
“It’s like a war zone,” Miriam said. “There’s nothing to save.”
“At our age, do we want to rebuild?” her husband asked.
No deaths or major injuries had been reported.
Cpl. Mark Gregory, a spokesperson for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, said the county initially received nearly 300 reports of missing people but had cleared all but 14 by Monday.
Authorities said the outstanding reports more likely represented people who had not been in contact since evacuating than those who were truly missing or in danger.
Courtney James, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said the Spokane-area wildfires were completely uncontained.
The fires were among dozens burning across the Western U.S., stretching the capacity of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. At least 390 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) had burned across Washington, which has contended with severe drought and a paltry snowpack.
Authorities warned people not to fly drones near the burned areas, saying the devices could force crews to delay aerial firefighting operations.
Homes, cars, possessions lost in flames
Angela and Wayde Deatherage, both 49, evacuated shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday with their son, grabbing a few bins of family photos and heirloom rings but little else. About 30 minutes later, their security camera was sending fire notifications to Angela’s phone.
Wayde Deatherage took back roads and returned by early evening. He stopped at the end of the street and called his wife: “Our house is done.”
Deatherage, however, was not done with his neighborhood. He propped a hose at another house so it sprayed the property. That home survived.
The couple returned to their property Sunday.
“It’s just ash,” Angela Deatherage said of the home where they had lived for nearly 22 years. “It’s like our house sunk down in the basement. … There’s just so much loss for so many people.”
Friends and relatives of fire victims posted online appeals for money, clothes and basic necessities. Kory and MacKensie Aspaas were away with their children when the disaster hit.
“They are coming back from being out of town to a life that’s been completely wiped out,” friend Kali Butler said.
Officials said Sunday that evacuees in Spokane included patients at the city’s U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital. Investigators had yet to determine how the blazes started.
Grassland burns in Idaho, Oregon and Utah
Spokane was hardly the only place struggling to contain fires.
A lightning-caused fire that has burned over 530 square miles (about 1,370 square kilometers) of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon continued to grow Monday. The area is home to cattle ranches, and authorities said the fire is threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures.
In central Utah, a blaze quadrupled in size over the weekend to nearly 109 square miles (282 square kilometers) by Monday afternoon. More than 100 cattle have been killed, according to law enforcement.
Heavy winds helped flames jump containment lines, though forward progression slowed toward Fillmore, a town of about 2,600 people and the seat of Millard County, officials said. Mandatory evacuations were ordered Sunday evening for the town’s southern portion, and inmates at the county jail were transferred.
Spokane sets up shelter for impacted residents
About 400 people were staying at Spokane’s main convention center, which was converted into a shelter, officials said.
Spokane Public Schools opened a free emergency drop-in camp for children Monday. Trials at the county court were pushed to Aug. 10.
Several larger fires continued to burn in less populated areas northwest of Spokane.
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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H.; Martha Bellisle in Seattle; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.