A massive wildfire that has destroyed at least 100 homes forced the residents of a second Washington town to leave their homes on Friday, and prompted a partial evacuation of a third community in a scenic valley, a sheriff said.
No injuries have been reported, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said on Friday night. Those living in outlying areas of Brewster were also told to leave. He said he knew the damage toll has grown, but he did not have an updated number.
“We know we’ve lost more homes,” Rogers said.
Malott is home to about 500 people, while the population of Brewster is about 2,400.
The hospital in Brewster was evacuated late on Thursday.
Outlying residents were told to leave on Friday because “the fire is just kind of picking up and blowing down toward Brewster,” Rogers said.
Smoke in the town was so thick it nearly obscured the Columbia River from adjacent highways. The smoke extended all the way to Spokane, 24km to the east.
Fire swept through the town of Pateros on Thursday, leaving its 650 residents to return to large areas of smoldering rubble.
Officials said the fire, known as the Carlton Complex, has blackened more than 670km2 and continues to grow. That size estimate was up dramatically from the prior estimate of 72km2.
Friday’s dawn revealed dramatic devastation in Pateros, including solitary brick chimneys and burned-out automobiles. Most residents evacuated in advance of the flames, and some returned on Friday to see what, if anything, was left of their houses.
The pavement of US Highway 97 stopped the advance of some of the flames, protecting parts of the town.
Firefighters poured water over the remnants of homes on Friday morning, raising clouds of smoke, steam and dust. Two big water towers perched just above the town were singed black. Ash fell like snowflakes.
The fire consumed utility poles from two major power lines, knocking out power to Pateros as well as the towns of Winthrop and Twisp to the north.
Rogers said earlier his team counted 30 houses and trailers destroyed in Pateros, another 40 in a community just outside the town at Alta Lake and about 25 homes destroyed elsewhere in the county of about 40,000 people.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including