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King 5.com - Seattle, WA
CARLTON -- Four firefighters were killed and one was in serious condition after battling a wildfire in a rugged area of the North Cascades Tuesday evening.
U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Debbie Kelly confirmed the deaths late Tuesday night, and said they had been missing since an explosive burst in the 30-Mile Fire overran a group of firefighters, injuring some others.
The identities and hometowns of the dead firefighters were not immediately released. A national investigative team is flying in to try to determine the cause of the fatalities.
A search party had been deployed Tuesday night for the four firefighters who could not be reached by radio. Their bodies were found late Tuesday in a fire shelter.
One firefighter was flown to a Seattle hospital with severe burns and several others were taken to hospitals for burns or smoke inhalation after a 100-acre wildfire blew up to more than 2,500 acres in the space of a few hours, fire officials said.
Photo Courtesy King 5.com
Planes drop fire retardant to knock down the leading edge of the fire.
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The most severely injured firefighter was being flown to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, which has the region's main burn-treatment center.
Stoked by high temperatures and high winds, the 30-Mile Fire grew from less than 10 acres early Tuesday to 100 acres by late afternoon and 2,500 acres by 7 p.m., Kelly said.
The fire was burning on steep, heavily forested terrain about 22 miles north of Winthrop in north-central Washington, she said.
The firefighters were believed to have been injured when the fire whipped back over them sometime early Tuesday evening. Some took shelter in foil-like tents that deflect the heat.
The 30-Mile Fire was northeast of another blaze – the Libby South Fire – which started earlier near the town of Carlton, about 10 miles south of Twisp in north central Washington.
The Libby South fire was estimated at about 1,200 acres, and steep, rocky canyons with virtually no escape routes made it difficult to fight, officials said. It was reported about 40 percent contained on Tuesday night.
A third fire, burning about 80 miles to the southeast of the Libby Creek Fire, near Grand Coulee Dam, blackened at least 70 acres of sage and grass.
No houses were immediately threatened in the Libby Creek fire, but about 50 houses are located in the area. Thirteen families voluntarily evacuated the Libby Creek area Monday, said Art Tasker, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.
A department worker trapped by the fire soon after it started Monday was forced to abandon his truck inside the fire line and walk out. He wasn't hurt, but it wasn't immediately known if the truck was burned, said Jim Archambeault, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
At least 400 firefighters were at the scene of the Libby South fire Tuesday. Planes flew over the fire to try to find the safest places to attack the blaze while keeping firefighters from getting stuck in a box canyon or draw with no way out, Tasker said.
The fire picked up intensity Tuesday afternoon after as temperatures increased and fuels dried out.
"What we're worried about, of course, is wind. Without the wind, we have chances. If the wind comes along we have to step aside for a while," Tasker said.
Crews had 20 wildland fire engines and 20 conventional fire engines. Four air tankers and three or four helicopters were dropping water and retardant on the flames.
The fire was reported at about 2:20 p.m. Monday and grew from 35 acres to 150 acres in about 45 minutes. It had grown to 400 acres by 8:30 p.m. and 1,000 acres at 11 p.m.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation, Archambeault said. No lightning strikes were reported in the area.
"It was a little bit of a suspicious origin," he said.
Volunteer firefighters early on the scene reported hearing an explosion, Archambeault said.
"I'm not sure if it was the trees exploding, or something in the trees," said Twisp Fire Chief Dwain Hutson.
The department said the fire was burning on state, federal and private land. It was declared a project fire, meaning local authorities called for backup outside the region, and a fire management team was called in to coordinate. The team is based at Liberty Bell High School, between Twisp and Winthrop.
A 70-acre fire, reported about 2 p.m. Tuesday, burned on a hill northeast of the town of Coulee Dam.
"The crews are trying to get a handle on it. If we can kick it where it's at, it will be OK," said David Nee, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
No injuries were reported and no buildings were threatened, but the fire was headed in the direction of the several communications towers, he said.
The cause of the fire had not been determined.
Crews from the BIA, Elmer City, Coulee Dam and the Bureau of Reclamation were fighting the blaze.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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