A one-year-old boy is among at least seven people to have died in wildfires ravaging hundreds of thousands acres in the Northwest U.S. this week, officials in Okanogan County, Washington, confirmed Wednesday.
Details: Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley said the boy's parents were being treated in hospital for third-degree burns after being found in the vicinity of the Cold Springs Fire that's burned about 163,000 acres, per the Seattle Times.
- In California, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Wednesday at least three people died in the Bear Fire that began in a remote region of Northern California, which has triggered evacuation orders for 20,000 county residents, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
- In Oregon, Sheriff Joe Kast said during a briefing that two bodies had been found in a vehicle in Marion County, where the Santiam Fire has burned some 159,000 acres, the Statesman Journal notes.
- The Almeda Fire that began in Medford Tuesday has killed at least one person after sweeping from Ashland through Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler said, KDRV reports. Some residents were under partial evacuation Tuesday night.
The big picture: Powerful winds are fueling scores of fires in California, Washington State and Oregon, where hundreds of homes have been destroyed, the New York Times notes.