快速蔓延的野火摧毀了華盛頓州東部80%的小鎮(zhèn)

快速蔓延的野火摧毀了華盛頓州東部80%的小鎮(zhèn)

In this photo from the Whitman County Sheriff's Office, little remains of a building in Malden, Wash. A fast-moving wildfire destroyed 80% of the town on Labor Day.

在這張惠特曼縣警長辦公室的照片中，華盛頓州莫爾登的一棟建筑幾乎沒有什么遺跡。一場快速蔓延的野火在勞動節(jié)摧毀了80%的城鎮(zhèn)。

Almost every structure in the small farming town of Malden in eastern Washington state was destroyed by a fast-moving fire Monday as high winds created what officials described as a firestorm.

周一，華盛頓州東部小鎮(zhèn)莫爾登的幾乎所有建筑都被快速移動的大火摧毀，強風(fēng)引發(fā)了大火，官員們稱之為大火風(fēng)暴。

According to the Whitman County Sheriff's Office, 80% of the town's structures were destroyed. The town of about 200 people is 35 miles south of Spokane in an agricultural region known as the Palouse.

據(jù)惠特曼縣警長辦公室稱，該鎮(zhèn)80%的建筑被毀。這個大約有200人的小鎮(zhèn)位于斯波坎以南35英里處的農(nóng)業(yè)區(qū)帕盧斯。

"The scale of this disaster really can't be expressed in words," said Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers in a statement. "The fire will be extinguished but a community has been changed for a lifetime. I just hope we don't find the fire took more than homes and buildings. I pray everyone got out in time."

惠特曼縣警長布雷特·邁爾斯在一份聲明中說:“這場災(zāi)難的規(guī)模實在無法用言語表達(dá)。”“大火將被撲滅，但一個社區(qū)已經(jīng)改變了一生。我只希望大火不會摧毀更多的房屋和建筑。我祈禱每個人都能及時出來。”

As of early Tuesday there were no reports of injuries from the fire in Malden.

截至周二凌晨，還沒有莫爾登火災(zāi)造成人員傷亡的報告。

Officials say the fire was fueled by high winds up to 45 mph, standing timber and dry fields. Deputies went door-to-door and used PA systems on their patrol vehicles to tell residents to evacuate immediately. Within hours, most of the small town had burned to the ground.

官員們表示，高達(dá)每小時45英里的大風(fēng)、樹木和干燥的土地助長了大火。警員們挨家挨戶地通過巡邏車上的擴(kuò)音系統(tǒng)通知居民立即撤離。幾個小時內(nèi)，這個小鎮(zhèn)的大部分都被夷為平地。

Malden lost its fire station, post office, city hall, library and most of its homes, according to the sheriff's office.

據(jù)警長辦公室稱，莫爾登失去了消防站、郵局、市政廳、圖書館和大部分房屋。

Myers said he believed all residents in the area had safely evacuated but couldn't be sure, according to The Spokesman-Review.

邁爾斯說，他相信該地區(qū)的所有居民都已安全撤離，但不能確定，根據(jù)發(fā)言人的評論。

"The fire was too hot and too quick to even get a count," Myers said.

邁爾斯說:“火勢太大，甚至無法進(jìn)行計數(shù)。”

Malden was not alone in seeing catastrophe on Labor Day — a day Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz described as heartbreaking and surreal, due to the intensity of wildfires and the speed with which they spread.

莫爾登并不是唯一一個在勞動節(jié)看到災(zāi)難的人。華盛頓公共土地專員希拉里·弗朗茨稱，由于森林大火的強度和蔓延速度，勞動節(jié)是一個令人心碎和超現(xiàn)實的日子。

"Today alone, almost 300,000 acres in Washington have burned," Franz said via social media channels. "Thousands of homes are without power. Many families have had to evacuate their homes and many homes have been lost."

弗朗茨通過社交媒體渠道說:“僅今天一天，華盛頓就有近30萬英畝土地被燒毀。”“成千上萬的家庭斷電。許多家庭不得不撤離家園，許多家園已經(jīng)失去。”

"At least 80 fires started in Washington in what officials call a historic fire event," as Spokane Public Radio reports.

據(jù)斯波坎公共廣播電臺報道，“華盛頓發(fā)生了至少80起火災(zāi)，官方稱這是歷史性的火災(zāi)事件。”

They're still taking stock in Whitman County, where the local emergency management agency, the sheriff's office and fire officials planned to inventory buildings and attempt to contact and account for all residents on Tuesday.

他們?nèi)栽谠u估惠特曼縣的情況，當(dāng)?shù)鼐o急事務(wù)管理機構(gòu)、警長辦公室和消防官員計劃在周二清點建筑物，并試圖聯(lián)系和清點所有居民的情況。