US, massive wildfire in Washington State: 60,000 evacuated and 600 buildings destroyed

Spokane (Washington, US), 3 August (LaPresse/AP) – The wildfires that have struck eastern Washington State have forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area, including patients at the veterans’ hospital, and destroyed at least 600 buildings, including homes, businesses and other structures. The fires have scorched over 8.2 square miles around Spokane, the second-largest city in Washington State, and on Sunday officials reported that 390 square miles had gone up in smoke across the state. These fires are among the dozens of blazes affecting the western United States. US emergency services have been working for ten days to extinguish a fire that has burnt nearly 525 square miles in western Idaho and eastern Oregon.