(NBC NEWS) Three firefighters were killed and four others injured in central Washington Wednesday battling one of the more than 100 wildfires burning across at least 1.1 million acres in the West, authorities told NBC News.
The fatalities occurred when winds shifted unexpectedly near the towns of Twisp and Winthrop and turned back on crews fighting a small new fire, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.
“It was a hellstorm up here,” Rogers told KXLY-TV. “The fire was racing and the winds were blowing in every direction.”
