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Washington Wildfire Forces Evacuation, Burns Homes

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 04:17 PST, Jun 29, 2015

A Washington wildfire has forced the evacuation of hundreds of people as their homes burn to the ground.

According to ABC News, authorities confirmed that the wildfire, fueled by high temperatures and winds, roared through a central Washington neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, and was still burning with full force on Monday morning.

Rich Magnussen, a spokesman for the Chelan County Emergency Management office, said the blaze started just outside of Wenatchee, approximately 120 miles east of Seattle, Washington, on Sunday, June 28. The police were hoping that the rain would help the firefighters get control over the blaze that had already burnt through 24 structures. However, the wildfire continued, burning through even more homes.

“We know the fire has grown overnight and we lost several more structures,” Wright said on Monday, June 29.

Currently, the flames have enveloped roughly 3,000 acres, twice the distance it was burning through on Sunday, Reuters reports.

“It jumped last night, just blew up,” Janet Pearce, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, said. “It is such a bad year.”

After the fire started, hundreds of people were ordered to leave their homes and seek refuge somewhere safe. Most of the evacuations occurred at the north end of town, and included a Walmart store. While the store did not burn, several other commercial buildings were located very close to the blaze.

“Leave your home immediately, the fire is close and you are in danger,” the Chelan County Emergency Management office said in a notice to the area residents.

While the official cause of the fire is still under investigation, the police believe it was started by humans, likely by the use of fireworks.

People have been sharing photos of the damage on social media sites. Many pictures of the flames can be seen on Twitter.

[Photo via Shutterstock]

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