Aug 1 (Reuters) - Wildfires across more than a quarter of a

million acres in Washington state have prompted widespread

evacuations and power outages in the Spokane area, state

officials said on Saturday evening.

About 4,000 people were fighting more than a dozen fires

throughout the state, Dave Upthegrove, the state's commissioner

of public lands, said during a virtual press conference.

Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency and

burn ban on Saturday morning. No injuries or fatalities related

to the fire were known at this point, officials said.

Spokane, home to about 230,000 residents of eastern Washington,

is dealing with the Old Trails Fire, which Washington State

Forester George Geissler said was active on 3,000 acres and

threatened 4,000 structures.

Some major facilities in Spokane have been evacuated, Mayor Lisa

Brown said, including water reclamation facilities, a

waste-energy plant and the Department of Veterans Affairs

hospital.

As of 3:30 p.m. (2230 GMT), about 200 homes in Spokane had been

evacuated, but officials expected that figure to change. "These

are large areas of the city, so I assume it's going to be more

than that," Brown said.

Utilities company Avista ( AVA ), which services eastern

Washington, reported that 60,000 people were without power,

according to Stacey McClain of the Washington State Emergency

Management Division.

"Our state is facing a very serious situation with multiple

fires," Ferguson said, noting that high winds and high

temperatures throughout the weekend would make fighting the

fires more challenging.

For the summer so far, about 450,000 acres have burned in

Washington state, Upthegrove said. "This is not normal. ...

Throughout the state of Washington we're seeing fires raging,"

he said.

The fire in Spokane is one of five "major complex fires" in

the state, Geissler said. The biggest, the Kaiser Canyon Fire in

the northeastern part of the state, is approximately 134,000

acres, he said.

Wildfires this summer have been a problem in other parts of the

Pacific Northwest. Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes last month

led to a series of fires and evacuation orders in the southern

part of British Columbia.

In addition to the National Guard, firefighters from more

than a dozen states are helping, Washington officials said

during the news conference.

"It's a tragedy what we're seeing over there," said Major

General Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National

Guard. "When the sun sets and the sun rises in the morning, I

think we're going to be in shock to see some of the scenes that

emerged out there."

(Reporting by Kenrick Cai; Editing by Sergio Non)