News crew soaked by jet fighting wildfires

A jet fighting wildfires in the US has soaked a news team filming too close to the drama at the weekend.

Residents in the Washington town of Chelan can be seen sprinting for cover as KOMO News cameraman Eric Jensen films the jumbo swooping in low over homes in suburbs being evacuated.

As a heavy stream of fire retardant spills out from underneath the jet, Jensen and his reporter Steve McCarron have nowhere to escape the orange foam being used to control blazes causing havoc in the region.

Jensen's stunning footage of the fly-over ends with his camera being coated in the retardant and a photo uploaded to the news station's Facebook page shows the saturated cameraman who continued filming the unfolding emergency.

The wildfire was sparked by a plane crash that killed two people in a rugged area of northern Washington, KOMO News reports.

Up to 1500 homes were evacuated, including the Chelan Hospital.

At least one home was saved from the spreading fire by the fly-over that left Jensen soaked.