Wildfires Burn Across US and Canada    08/10 06:24

   

   (AP) -- Wildfires burning across the western U.S. and Canada on Sunday left 
some residents keeping a wary eye out for possible evacuation orders while 
others already forced to flee their homes waited to see what would be left on 
their return.

   In western Canada, over 20,000 people were forced to flee communities along 
Okanagan Lake in British Columbia over the weekend as a fast-moving wildfire 
destroyed homes and dozens had to be rescued by aircraft. In the U.S., crews in 
Washington that have been fighting three wildfires that began burning in the 
Spokane area for over a week continued cleanup near containment lines.

   Laurie Allen left her home in Nine Mile Falls, a community north of Spokane, 
last weekend, fleeing with her husband, dog and two kittens as a wildfire 
burned a short distance away. The roads into her neighborhood were still closed 
Sunday but she said she'd learned from a friend that while covered in ashes, 
her house and others nearby were intact.

   "I've been here 65 years. It's never happened," Allen said. "We didn't think 
about anything but grabbing our animals and leaving. But now it's affected so 
many of our friends and family around. So it's pretty dang devastating."

   Over 20,000 flee Canadian wildfires

   In Canada, Anette Boulet was among residents who fled Summerland, home to 
about 12,000 people along Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. As she and her 
family left around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, their home was shrouded in smoke.

   "You couldn't see barely. It was, it was just dark, and the ridge, the ridge 
of fire just coming towards you," said Boulet, who evacuated to a center in 
Penticton.

   "There's no words to express it," she said. "The fear."

   Later Sunday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said an 80-year-old woman 
died while trying to escape the wildfire that forced evacuations in the 
Okanagan Lake region.

   Besides the evacuations in Summerland, the Bald Range fire, first reported 
Friday evening, has also led to the evacuation of about 8,000 people in and 
around nearby Peachland. British Columbia declared a state of emergency 
Saturday.

   Eleanor Olszewski, Canada's minister of emergency management and community 
resilience, said Sunday on social media that she'd approved a request for 
federal assistance from British Columbia to provide shelter and accommodations 
for those forced to flee.

   Spokane-area fires leave residents on edge

   Crews fighting three wildfires in the Spokane area continued "mop-up 
operations" on Sunday near containment lines, and none of the fires were 
growing, according to a news release from the team managing those wildfires. 
The fires, which have burned over the last week, have damaged or destroyed 
about 920 structures.

   Earlier in the week, a man was arrested and charged with intentionally 
setting the biggest of the three Spokane-area blazes.

   Residents in the tiny rural town of Malden, located about 35 miles (55 
kilometers) south of Spokane, had been urged Saturday to evacuate immediately. 
By Sunday, however, their evacuation level was downgraded to be ready to 
quickly leave if necessary.

   "The wind is fairly calm. The fire is not progressing," said John Goyke, 
whose company operates Malden's water under contract, "but we're using social 
media and Facebook to keep in contact with everyone."

   Goyke, who is the mayor of nearby Rosalia, said Malden's residents have been 
told to conserve water so it can be saved for fire trucks if needed, and 
Malden's fire department has been trucking water from Rosalia.

   In 2020, Malden was mostly destroyed by a wildfire, losing its fire station, 
post office, city hall and library.

   Two killed fighting wildfire when helicopter crashes

   In Utah, two helicopter pilots were killed when their aircraft crashed while 
they were fighting a wildfire Friday morning in the Fishlake National Forest. 
Crews were finally able to get to the site Saturday to confirm the deaths.

   Officials said Sunday that fire activity had prevented them from quickly 
reaching the area amid steep, rough terrain.

   "When we first got there we could see two different plumes of smoke, one 
from the crash site, one from an active fire coming towards us," Sevier County 
Sheriff Nathan Curtis said.

   The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the 
crash.