Three Firefighters Killed Battling Blaze in Washington
KABUL: (Middle East Press) Three U.S. firefighters have lost their lives and four others wounded after their vehicle crashed as they battled a blaze on Wednesday in the US state of Washington, authorities said.
US Forest Service issued a statement states that the firefighters were engaged in initial attack operations and were involved in a vehicle accident when it is believed that the fire overtook the vehicle.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the four injured were also involved in the accident.
The Forest Service statement identified the four injured as two Department of Natural Resources employees, a DNR contractor, and one U.S. Forest Service worker.
The deaths came as a fast-moving wildfire forced authorities on Wednesday to order the evacuations of about 4,000 homes on the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in north-central Washington, an emergency management team said.
“It was a hellstorm up here,” Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers told reporters. “The fire was racing and the winds were blowing in every direction and then it would shift. … It was tough on ’em up here.”
The fires have caused black smoke to cover more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) across the dry western part of Washington, prompting fire managers to call in help from the US Army and firefighting crews from neighboring states.
