Photos courtesy of Okanogan County Sheriff's Office By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press
Published: Aug 14, 2015
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (AP) -
A wildfire ignited by a plane crash that killed two people in a rugged area of northern Washington state was one of several that chased hundreds of people from their homes Friday in the drought-stricken state, authorities said.
The blaze burned 10 to 12 buildings, including residences, threated about 660 homes and forced more than 400 people to evacuate as winds picked up in the dry land near Oroville, a small town near the Canadian border, officials said.
Bob and Helen Dickson said flames were jumping from tree to tree, sending billows of black smoke into the air when officials rushed up their driveway with red lights flashing and told them to leave. When they were able to return on Friday, and said "it looked like a nuclear bomb went off for miles and miles."
"Looks like moonscape. Black everywhere," Bob Dickson said in an email to The Associated Press. "Saw deer with their fawns walking aimlessly around, not knowing where to go. Three of our neighbors lost their homes and quite a few structures just vanished."
The wildfire near Oroville just east of the Cascade Range was one of many large wildfires burning across the West, including eight others in Washington state and others in Oregon, Idaho and California.
Hundreds of people were evacuated in Chelan in central Washington as crews fought lightning-caused blazes in and around the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest on Friday. Flames and smoke were visible from downtown Chelan. Washington officials asked for help from the state National Guard.
The federal government said wildfires have been so bad this season that the Forest Service will exhaust its firefighting budget next week and will again have to tap into other programs for more money.
A Cessna 182 heading from Oroville to Spokane with two people aboard crashed and sparked the fire that spread to the Canadian border, officials said. Crews responding to the blaze discovered the wreckage Thursday and a body inside the aircraft. Investigators found a second body Friday.
Local authorities and officials with the Federal Aviation Administration went to investigate the crash, which was at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. The NTSB, which planned to get there by Saturday, knew the plane's registration number but was not immediately releasing it or the owner's name, spokesman Peter Knutson said.
The crash happened in the same remote north-central county as one that a teenager survived in July. It took the girl two days to hike to safety after the crash killed her step-grandparents.
Tory King, a customer service worker at the Princess Center grocery store in downtown Oroville, said smoke has filled the town.
"All we can see here is smoke," she said.
Bob Dickson said the area around their home at Nine Mile Ranch is still extremely smoky even after they were able to go back. There were many small fires still burning, he said.
"We feel blessed that the firefighters and air bombers saved our home" he said. "Fire retardant everywhere but amazingly still standing."
Officials expected high winds in the remote region to fan the flames, said Josie Williams, spokeswoman for the Washington Incident Management Team No. 2. Most of the state is under a red-flag warning, meaning the temperatures are high and the landscape is crispy dry, Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Janet Pierce said.
The 4.7-square-mile fire also posed a risk to roads, bridges, power and gas lines, and several private businesses in a state struggling with drought, which has made the parched terrain combustible. The Federal Emergency Management Agency planned to send funding to help combat the blaze.
An evacuation shelter has been set up at Oroville High School.