"SEATTLE -- Three firefighters in Washington state were killed and four injured while battling a wildfire threatening the town of Twisp, officials said on Wednesday, as more than a dozen major blazes burned in parched Western U.S. states.

The deaths came as a fast-moving wildfire forced authorities late on Wednesday to order the evacuations of about 4,000 homes in Twisp and Winthrop, towns in the foothills of the Cascade mountains of north-central Washington, an emergency management team said on Facebook.

'I was just told that three firefighters died while battling the Twisp fire and four were injured,' Washington governor Jay Inslee said in a statement."

Eric M. Johnson reports for Reuters August 20, 2015. [2]