A one-year-old boy has been killed and his parents left with serious burns as they tried to flee a wildfire in Washington state, authorities said.
Jake Hyland, his pregnant wife Jamie, and their toddler Uriel had been at their weekend home in rural Okanogan when they were trapped by the Cold Springs Fire on Sunday, according to a GoFundMe page for the family.
Search and rescue found the family, who are originally from Seattle, on the banks of the Columbia River.
Uriel Hyland’s cause of death has not been released, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to the family’s fundraising page, Ms Hyland suffered 40-50 per cent burns and her husband had 25 per cent burns and are in critical condition. They were transferred to a Seattle hospital where they both require surgery.
The GoFundMe page has raised more than $80,000 of the $100,000 goal.
The Cold Springs Fire is burning in Okanogan and Douglas counties, one of dozens of blazes across a large swath of Washington state and Oregon that rarely experiences such intense wildfire activity because of the Pacific Northwest’s cool and wet climate. The US is seeing increasingly intense and more frequent wildfires, driven by the climate crisis.
At least seven people have been killed in the wildfires which are sweeping western regions on the US.
A boy and his grandmother died in a wildfire near Lyons, Oregon, according to family members, KOIN reported.
Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast earlier Wednesday confirmed two fatalities but said Wednesday night they had only so far confirmed that searchers had found in a vehicle what are believed to be the remains of a boy and dog. The sheriff’s office will work with the county medical examiner to confirm the boy’s identity.
