{"id":5961,"date":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/08\/03\/raging-washington-state-wildfires-destroy-homes-and-force-60000-people-to-evacuate\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","slug":"raging-washington-state-wildfires-destroy-homes-and-force-60000-people-to-evacuate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=5961","title":{"rendered":"Raging Washington state wildfires destroy homes and force 60,000 people to evacuate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"3fc49c4d-68a0-4ce3-989b-c73cbcaf1ad5\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a man looks the rubble of his home that was destroyed by a fire\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/6d52d81eb2658f96304dbd5bbc56ce98b1f8a05c\/0_0_6000_4000\/master\/6000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The remains of a home burned in the Old Trails fire in Spokane on Monday.<\/span> Photograph: David Ryder\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"3fc49c4d-68a0-4ce3-989b-c73cbcaf1ad5\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The remains of a home burned in the Old Trails fire in Spokane on Monday.<\/span> Photograph: David Ryder\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Raging Washington state wildfires destroy homes and force 60,000 people to evacuate<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Hundreds of structures damaged as firefighters battle to contain 15 major wildfires amid extreme heat and drought<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Firefighters in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/washington-state\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Washington state<\/a> are battling wildfires that have forced 60,000 people to flee and destroyed hundreds of buildings as drought and extreme heat fuel an \u201cextraordinary\u201d fire season in the Pacific north-west.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Fifteen major blazes are raging across the state, David Upthegrove, the head of Washington\u2019s department of natural resources, told reporters over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIt\u2019s not a normal season,\u201d he said. \u201cA confluence of weather conditions, a confluence of fires throughout the west, are stretching our resources and challenging the individuals in this response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Spokane, a city of 230,000 in north-eastern Washington near the Idaho border, has been particularly hard hit, with three fires burning in the area. While no deaths have been reported, officials confirmed that at least 600 structures had been damaged or destroyed and that none of the fires are contained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The fires around Spokane forced rapid evacuations and prompted officials to open emergency shelters to support some of the 60,000 people displaced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cDriving around looking at the homes \u2013 it\u2019s just one of the most heartbreaking things I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d Geoff Beadles, a Spokane resident who evacuated with his fiancee and dogs, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Light winds and lower temperatures were expected to aid firefighters before warmer weather arrives later in the week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Even before the fires exploded around Spokane, state officials had warned that the year had already been one of the busiest wildfire years on record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cOur firefighters are already stretched thin across the state, and with more heat and wind expected this weekend and for the rest of the summer, any new spark on our tinder-dry landscapes can lead to another devastating wildfire,\u201d Upthegrove said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The National Weather Service last week issued a \u201cparticularly dangerous situation\u201d red-flag alert and noted that eastern Washington was facing extreme weather risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Bob Ferguson, Washington\u2019s governor, declared a state of emergency on Saturday due to drought, unusually high temperatures and high winds \u201cexacerbating our record-setting wildfires\u201d, and banned most burning in the state through September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The state is in the midst of a record-setting fourth consecutive statewide drought, Ferguson noted in his announcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The governor has requested federal assistance to respond to the wildfires and said he had been in contact with Donald Trump and other administration officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">It has been a challenging fire season across the Pacific north-west, with Oregon already nearing its largest <a href=\"https:\/\/katu.com\/news\/local\/oregon-nears-all-time-wildfire-acreage-record-as-2026-fires-top-2-million-acres\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">on record<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"><em>AFP contributed to this story<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/washington-state\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Washington state<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/west-coast\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">West Coast<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Raging%20Washington%20state%20wildfires%20destroy%20homes%20and%20force%2060,000%20people%20to%20evacuate&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/washington-state-fires-spokane?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F03%2Fwashington-state-fires-spokane&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/washington-state-fires-spokane\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The remains of a home burned in the Old Trails fire in Spokane on Monday. Photograph: David Ryder\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}