Authorities on Wednesday afternoon urged people in the north-central Washington town to evacuate because of a fast-moving wildfire
The deaths came as a fast-moving wildfire forced authorities late on Wednesday to order the evacuations of Twisp and Winthrop, towns in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, Okanogan County Emergency Management said on Facebook.
'I was just told that three firefighters died while battling the Twisp fire and four were injured,' Inslee said in a statement.
Fires have blackened more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) across the arid Western region, prompting fire managers to call in help from the U.S. Army and abroad to reinforce civilian crews.
Flames and smoke rise on a ridge line above a ranch on Twisp River Road in Twisp, Washington, on Wednesday
Based on 'extreme fire danger,' Washington state's Department of Natural Resources said on Wednesday it was moving to shut down all industrial forest activities, including timber harvest operations and road construction, across almost all of its eastern forested areas, which the agency believes to be the first such action in more than 20 years.
Inslee said he requested a federal emergency declaration, which would free up resources to help cover firefighting costs.
Dousing the flames: An air tanker drops red fire retardant on a wildfire near Twisp, Washington on Wednesday, August 19, 2015
This week, the national year-to-date tally of area burned passed 7 million acres (2.9 million hectares).
That figure had not been reached so early in the year for two decades.
Remnants spill into a creek from a warehouse full of food products that was destroyed in an early-morning fire on Tuesday in Winlock
More than 1,400 other people were placed under evacuation orders across the county, Utt added, but most of them had since been allowed to return to their homes.
The U.S. Army mobilized soldiers on Monday to reinforce civilian fire fighters stretched thin by dozens of major wildfires roaring largely unchecked across the West, with more than 100 homes reduced to ruins in several states
In central Oregon, another cluster of wildfires near the rural community of John Day had destroyed three dozen homes since the weekend and threatened many others.
The state's fire marshal's office said high winds posed a challenge as ground crews fought to keep the 48,200-acre (19,500-hectare) fire away from homes and a power transmission line.
In the mountains of north-central Idaho, a group of blazes that grew to 100 square miles (260 square km) forced evacuations on Tuesday from dozens of homes near the small town of Weippe.
Fires burning in and around the Nez Perce Indian Reservation has consumed 50 homes and 80 outbuildings near the logging town of Kamiah, Idaho, since it was sparked by lightning last week.
An elderly woman in the area was killed when she fell and struck her head while trying to secure her backyard chickens before fleeing the fire with her husband, authorities said.
On Wednesday, flames were advancing on Kamiah from three sides as another part of the complex was reaching north toward Weippe, said federal fire information officer Dixie Dies.
'This fire is amoebic. It's spreading everywhere,' Dies said.
In California, about 2,500 people were forced to flee Christian camps east of Fresno at Hume Lake on Tuesday as the so-called Rough Fire crossed Highway 180, said Anne Janik, a fire information official.
Source: Reuters
I have several friends who are firefighters. No one deserves more respect and thanks. My prayers are with the families of those who perished.
(Hope it's OK to say that)