Apocalyptic scenes have emerged from Washington State where wildfires prompted the evacuation of thousands and 3,000 acres were scorched, killing at least one.
The Gray Fire started at about midday on Friday and a few hours later surged through 4.7 square miles of grass, timber and wheat pushed by 35 miles per hour winds, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources said.
Medical Lake and Four Lakes, about 15 miles southwest of Spokane, have a combined population of 5,000 – the local mayor warned residents to ‘get out now!’ as the blaze continued to threaten those communities.
A red-flag warning, meaning critical fire conditions were happening or soon to happen, is scheduled to come into effect at about 10am on Saturday for eastern Washington State and northern Idaho, the National Weather Service said.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office told khq that at least one person had died in connection to the Gray Fire but the circumstances remain unclear.
As of 7am Saturday morning, Spokane County Emergency Management reduced the threat level to 2, ‘Be ‘Set!’ near Granite Lake, Tyler and Malloy Prairie and I-90 south.
But the fires appeared to continue to rage in other parts of the area.
Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Joe Smillie, told the New York Times that the huge blaze destroyed several structures in Medical Lake but those numbers have yet to be quantified.
As of Friday night, there was zero percent containment of wildfire and officials are yet to release updates for Saturday.
City of Medical Lake Mayor, Terri Cooper, warned residents and posted to Facebook ‘All Medical Lake citizens, get out now.’
‘We are under Level 3 evacuations. If you need transportation, buses are available at Medical Lake High School baseball field,’ she said.
‘They will take you to Cheney High School (Red Cross Evacuation Shelter). Small animals are ok. If you need help with large animals, please contact 911 and they will assist you. Please stay diligent and safe.’
Hours later the city issued a boiled water alert saying they’re ‘unsure of the water.’
‘We are unsure of the water quality so to be safe, we are requesting our water customers to boil water until we can get the system restored and test the water to ensure it is safe to drink,’ they posted to Facebook…Source – Read More!
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