Firefighters work around clock battling dozens of wildfires in Western US
California sets record with 2 million acres burned; Jeff Paul reports from Los Angeles.
A man in Washington state was arrested Wednesday after he was caught setting a fire in the brush along a highway, according to officials.
Trooper Ryan Burke with the Washington State Patrol said on Twitter that the 36-year-old was caught in the median of State Route 167 in Puyallup, located just outside of Tacoma.
The man was quickly arrested and taken to jail, according to Burke.
WASHINGTON STATE WILDFIRE KILLS BOY, 1, LEAVES PARENTS SEVERELY BURNED
A photo from the scene shows dry grass burning in the median of the road.
A man was arrested in Puyallup, Wash. on Wednesday after he was caught setting a fire in the median of a state highway. (Washington State Patrol Trooper Ryan Burke)
"Joint team effort!!" Burke tweeted.
Troopers told Q13 FOX the man from Puyallup told them he was looking for a camera.
The fire started to spread and Puyallup Police were forced to close the northbound ramp on the highway, Q13 reported.
No further details have been released, but the suspect was taken to jail.
WILDFIRE THREAT SIMMERS FOR WEST AS SMOKE FROM BLAZES SPREADS INTO CENTRAL US
Since Monday more than 50 fires have been ignited in Washington state, burning more than 300,000 acres.
Grain from a collapsed grain elevator burns on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2020, in Pine City, Wash. The grain elevator collapsed when a wildfire swept through town on Monday. (Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that low humidity, high temperatures and winds combined to likely make the one blaze in Sumner one of "the most catastrophic fires we’ve had in the history of the state.”
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At least seven people have died from the blazes along the West Coast.
A helicopter makes a water drop, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, on a hotspot of a wildfire burning in Bonney Lake, Wash., south of Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
In Washington, a 1-year-old boy died after his family was apparently overrun by flames while trying to flee a wildfire burning in the northeastern part of the state, Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley said Wednesday.
A tanker truck sprays water on a persistent hotspot of a wildfire on a ridge, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, near Bonney Lake, Wash., south of Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
FOX12 reported that police confirmed that a boy and his grandmother died in a wildfire near Lyons, Ore. The Mail Tribune in Medford, Ore., reported that Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler confirmed at least one death and a criminal investigation at the origin point of a wildfire that started near Ashland. Three others have died in California.
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Weather conditions are not expected to improve greatly anytime soon.
The fire weather outlook for Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. (Fox News)
Despite slightly cooler temperatures near the coast and overall decreasing winds, an elevated fire threat continues Thursday across portions of the Southwest, Northern California, and the Northwest, where inland afternoon high temperatures will still reach into the 90s and 100s.
Fox News' Janice Dean and Brandon Noriega and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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