Fires on more than 250,000 acres of Washington state prompt evacuations

Spokane, home to about 230,000 residents of eastern Washington, is dealing with the Old Trails Fire, which Washington State Forester George Geissler said was active on 3,000 acres and threatened 4,000 structures.

Some major facilities in Spokane have been evacuated, Mayor Lisa Brown said, including water reclamation facilities, a waste-energy plant and the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.

As of 3:30 p.m. (2230 GMT), about 200 homes in Spokane had been evacuated, but officials expected that figure to change. "These are large areas of the city, so I assume it's going to be more than that," Brown said.

Utilities company Avista AVA.N, which services eastern Washington, reported that 60,000 people were without power, according to Stacey McClain of the Washington State Emergency Management Division.