Wildfire forces evacuation of entire small town in southern Washington

ROOSEVELT, Wash. – A fast-moving wildfire has forced the evacuation of an entire small town in southern Washington state, authorities said.

The Klickitat County sheriff’s office issued the mandatory order for Roosevelt Tuesday afternoon.

An estimated 300 people were evacuated. A shelter was set up in a local school.

Several barns and other structures burned after the grass fire erupted about 1 p.m., but no homes had been damaged by nightfall, officials said.

Jeff King, the county director of emergency management, said fire crews are focused on structure protection.

He said that the evacuation order was necessary because the fire was burning in several parts of Roosevelt, located about 120 miles east of Portland, Ore.

Six Klickitat County fire departments, plus a team from the Bureau of Land Management and Washington State Air resources were fighting the fire.

Traffic is being detoured around a section of State Route 14 that has been closed by the fire.

Roosevelt, located on the banks of the Columbia River, was on the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.