A handout photo made available by the Spokane Valley Fire Department shows the Fairview Fire northeast of Spokane, Wash., on Sunday. Photo courtesy of the Spokane Valley Fire Department/EPA
Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Nearly 65,000 people have been evacuated in Spokane County, Wash., Monday as wildfires spread through the area.
More than 700 homes have been destroyed since Saturday in what is the worst wildfire season the Pacific Northwest has experienced in more than 30 years. More than 250,000 acres have burned in Washington alone.
Firefighters are nowhere near stopping the fires that have ripped across the Spokane area. Spokane County is the fourth most populous county in the state. The wildfires are expected to burn for weeks, Kris Maynard, Spokane County Fire District 8 deputy chief, told CNN.
"I hate to say our whole community seems to be under threat right now, because the fire started kind of more towards the base [Fairchild Air Force Base], and then now has just grown to the size to where it's jumping rivers, it's jumping the streets, it's going in the direction to where magnitudes of homes are," Maynard said. "This fire is going to be going on for weeks but we're attacking it. We're being aggressive against it because we want to make sure that no lives are lost and that no more homes are going to be lost."
