Wildfires burn across western US and Canada as residents are evacuated

3 hours ago 1

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 clean-up 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.”