Fast-moving wildfires in Spokane, Washington, destroy hundreds of homes: "Worst natural disaster our region has faced"

Fast-moving wildfires driven by strong winds and soaring temperatures have destroyed more than 600 homes, businesses and other buildings in the Spokane area in eastern Washington state, fire officials said. About 60,000 people had to evacuate in what Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called the "worst natural disaster our region has faced." 

Three major fires were burning in the area: the Old Trails Fire — which broke out Saturday — the Fairview Fire, and the Autumn Lane Fire, which now also includes what had been known as the Meadowview Fire. The state has issued air quality warnings.

The blazes sent a plume of smoke billowing over the region, and some 12 square miles of terrain had been burned as of Sunday evening around Spokane, Washington's second-largest city. There was no containment reported by fire officials.

Fifteen major fires were burning across the state on Sunday, scorching approximately 390 square miles, fire officials said.

Some 4,000 people were involved in firefighting efforts in the state, Washington Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said at a news conference.

"This is an extraordinary fire season in the Pacific Northwest," he said.

Fire officials said cooler temperatures were expected Monday and Tuesday, but later in the week, "temperatures will rise into the mid to high-90's with relative humidity in the lower teens."

Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson for the California Interagency Incident Management Team 7, which is in Washington to help with the fires, told CBS News the main priority is the Autumn Lane Fire. "It has the most potential to just kind of get out and go wild, like, truly go wild," he said.

Forward progress of the Fairview Fire had stopped as of Sunday night and, while the Old Trail Fire was still active, the "major danger" had passed, Cossel said. But he cautioned that the weather in the coming days could be a "recipe for extreme fire behavior."

Cossel said the damage from the fires could be catastrophic.

"What we're hearing, kind of, you know, at scale, is this is at the same level of a Altadena Eaton Fire or a Palisades sort of event," he said, referencing the devastating wildfires that tore through the Los Angeles area last year. "We know we have more than 600 structures that have been destroyed, and we're very certain that that number will increase as firefighters are able to get into areas that they couldn't get into before because it was just too hot." 

Cossel said it was unclear as of Sunday night how many of those structures were homes, but said he believed whole communities and neighborhoods have been destroyed.

Orange and red flames were visible from the highway as cars lined the roads while people fled their homes. No deaths have yet been reported from the fires in the Spokane area, but Brown said Sunday, "We are still assessing the potential for lives to be lost."

"We urge residents of Spokane to heed evacuation orders and to stay alert to changing conditions and evacuations as they are rapidly changing," said Courtney James, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

"There are just so many Washingtonians who have literally lost everything in a very, very short period of time," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said at a Sunday news conference. "Just in a matter of hours, their lives changed in deeply dramatic and fundamental ways. And so it's difficult to find words when folks have experienced a loss like that."

Ferguson stressed: "We're here for the long haul."

Power company Avista said it had implemented public safety shutoffs in the area due to elevated fire risk, but those had been restored by Sunday. Many others, however, remained without power due to the blazes. Avista CEO Heather Rosentrater said Sunday the company's utility crews were still unable to access many of the affected areas due to the ongoing blazes and evacuation orders.

A little over 10,000 customers were still without power as of Sunday evening, Rosentrater said. At the peak of the outages, more than 30,000 were without power, she said. She warned that others could lose power during peak energy hours due to diminished capacity.

Rosentrater said she does not believe the company's facilities were involved in the ignition of any of the fires in the Spokane area.

Ferguson declared a state of emergency Saturday after unusually high temperatures and high winds exacerbated record wildfires across the state.

"Things are extremely dynamic, especially in Spokane," Ferguson said during a press conference on Saturday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Sunday it had authorized federal funds to help fight the Sinlahekin Fire, Fairview Fire and Autumn Lane Fire.

Ferguson said Sunday he had spoken with President Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and they "will be working together on additional requests for federal assistance."

"I deeply appreciate the President taking time to have this conversation, and I am optimistic we will receive a quick approval for our request for a federal emergency declaration," Ferguson said.

Ferguson again expressed optimism during a Sunday news conference that additional requests for federal funding would be granted, citing recent approvals for flooding in the state, but noted that long-term relief will take more time.

Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who represents Washington's 5th Congressional District, said Sunday, "It doesn't look like the weather is getting much better for the next few days. Everyone needs to stay alert."