Historic Wildfire in Washington State Destroys 300 Homes

EXTREME CLIMATE HAZARDS
INTENSE DROUGHT
HIGH TEMPERATURES
MAJOR LIGHTNING STORMS
DESTRUCTIVE WILDFIRES
MASS EVACUATIONS
STATES OF EMERGENCY
SCENARIOS 797, 111, 101, 078, 070, 03
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‘It looks like a moonscape; there’s nothing left. There’s hundreds of dead livestock. It’s horrifying’

At least 300 homes —twice as many as previously reported—have been destroyed in the largest wildfire ever recorded in Washington state history, said Okanogan County Sheriff.

The deadly Carlton Complex fire, which was sparked by lightning, has consumed about 1,040km², spanning more than 1,200km.

“It’s every road. Every road lost something. It looks like a moonscape; there’s nothing left. There’s hundreds of dead livestock, said the sheriff. “It’s horrifying.”

Thousands of people have been displaced.

State of Emergency

The White House declared a state of emergency in Washington on Wednesday due to the fires.

The State of Emergency Proclamation is meant “to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Chelan and Okanogan and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.”

Largest Wildfire in the U.S.

Buzzard Complex fire in Oregon, the largest wildfire in the U.S., is reportedly 95 percent contained, after burning more than 1,600km² of rangeland.

More than 10,000 of 13,000 wildland fire personnel in the U.S. have been assigned to contain multiple fires in the Pacific Northwest, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.