A deadly wildfire emergency stretching from western Canada to the US Pacific Northwest has claimed at least one life and forced tens of thousands from their homes, as crews race to contain fast-moving blazes in searing summer conditions.
An 80-year-old woman died while trying to flee her home as a major wildfire tore through Canada’s British Columbia province, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said late yesterday.
The Summerland fire, which ignited Friday near Okanagan Lake, has expanded quickly and prompted evacuation orders for more than 20,000 people.
South of the border, many of the tens of thousands displaced by a cluster of wildfires near Spokane, Washington, were permitted to return yesterday as firefighters intensified efforts to extinguish lingering hot spots.
Officials said that even with another bout of hot, dry weather over the weekend, nearly 1,700 firefighters succeeded in stopping any new advance by three fires that erupted on the outskirts of the state’s second-most populous city on 1 August.
By Sunday, those blazes had burned 10,000 acres and destroyed or heavily damaged more than 900 homes in and around Spokane. At the height of the emergency, wind-driven flames surged into neighborhoods, forcing firefighters into a defensive posture and placing as many as 64,000 residents under evacuation orders.
No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported.
Tens of thousands were forced to flee a cluster of wildfires near Spokane, Washington
For days, the Spokane-area fires stood as the top firefighting priority in the US, including across the drought-stricken Pacific Northwest, where dozens of wildfires have smoldered for weeks, sending smoke and soot across a broad swath of the region.
In Canada, officials said a separate wildfire north of the US border burned more than 10,300 hectares over the weekend in a wine-producing part of British Columbia.
The province declared a state of emergency, and about 18,000 people were ordered to evacuate as towering flames consumed homes and other property.
In Washington, fire officials said mop-up work continued, with crews increasingly shifting toward stamping out hot spots amid the smoldering remains of the neighborhoods hit hardest.
Authorities said communities closest to the burn areas will remain off-limits to residents indefinitely until officials can confirm conditions are safe.
Still, some signs of reopening emerged: roads were unblocked and evacuation orders were lifted in areas outside the immediate fire footprint, enabling displaced residents there to go back, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told a news conference.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Greece battles new fire near Athens driven by winds
Greece also faced fresh fire danger Monday, when a new wildfire broke out southeast of Athens, pushed by strong winds exceeding 70 kilometres per hour, according to firefighters.
The fire service said on X that at least 172 firefighters and about 40 vehicles were dispatched to battle the blaze in Kouvaras, 60km southeast of the capital, in the Attica region.
“Two water-bombing aircraft and four helicopters” are also taking part, the service added.
Civil protection authorities ordered the evacuation of Agios Stylianos, a village near Kouvaras.
The outbreak is the second fire near Athens this summer, following one 10 days ago northwest of the city that destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of pine forest and farmland.
Driven by gusts as high as 130km/ph, that earlier blaze took five days to bring under control.
Two helicopter crew members died in a collision with another helicopter while battling the flames.
As in much of the Mediterranean, Greece has seen wildfires become more frequent and more intense, a trend scientists link to climate change.
The country remains on extreme alert, with several regions still rated at a very high fire risk.
Experts have warned that fires in Attica — home to Athens — are growing more severe.
From 2017 to 2026, 42% of the total forest area in the region burned because of 15 major fires.
