A wildfire scorched the outskirts of a small town along the Columbia River in Washington state late Thursday, prompting urgent warnings to residents to evacuate their homes, NBC News reported. The blaze in the Carlton Complex, which consists of four separate fires, sent hundreds fleeing from Pateros, a town of about 700, according to Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers. The blaze has burned more than 7,000 acres and is expected to double in size over the next 24 hours, according to the Inciweb firefighting website.
