Wildfires put cabins at risk

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, August 9, 2006

WINTHROP – Fire crews were working Wednesday to protect summer cabins in northcentral Washington’s Chewuch Valley after two large wildfires merged and continued to grow.

The Tripod and Spur Peak fires have burned more than 74,800 acres, or nearly 117 square miles, of national forest land northeast of Winthrop. The fires, which burned together on Tuesday, began spreading into the Loomis State Forest this week, but the blaze remained about 8 miles southwest of the town of Loomis, fire information officer Tom James said.

About 450 people live in Loomis, about 10 miles south of the Canadian border.

“We do have containment lines between the fire and the town,” James said. “The weather has been looking pretty good, the humidity is up and the temperature is down a little bit. The winds have been fairly calm today as well, so things are looking pretty calm.”

Nearly 2,100 firefighters were assigned to the blaze, which was 10 percent contained.

Elsewhere, the Valley Mill fire near Spokane remained at 460 acres on Wednesday, as firefighters had it 75 percent trailed, said Steve Harris, a fire information officer for the state Department of Natural Resources.

“Most of the fire has burned out at this time,” Harris said.

A survey revealed that the fire destroyed four homes on Tuesday and 14 other outbuildings, including garages and a shop, Harris said. The fire was near the town of Valley, 40 miles north of Spokane.

About 150 firefighters remained on the scene doing mop-up work, he said.

Area residents who had been evacuated on Tuesday were allowed to return home Wednesday.

The fire was started by a person who was burning trash, Harris said. Burning trash is illegal in Washington, and all of Stevens County was under a burn ban anyway, Harris said.

The name of the person was not released, but Harris said the person could face criminal charges and a bill for the costs of the fire.

The message to Eastern Washington residents and visitors is to not burn, he said.

“We do have burn restrictions in all of Eastern Washington, so there is no burning,” he said. “There are campfires in a few designated sites, but people need to check before they go.”

Stevens County Commissioners Merrill Ott and Tony Delgado and Sheriff Craig Thayer estimated that damages from the Valley Mill fire would exceed $500,000.

In central Washington, the Flick Creek fire near Stehekin on Lake Chelan was 30 percent contained at 4,200 acres, or about 6.5 square miles. Only a dozen firefighters remained on the fire.

Fire crews were continuing trail protection efforts along the Entiat River to protect against the Tinpan fire, which has burned 4,100 acres about 40 miles northwest of Entiat. About 242 fire personnel were working the blaze, which was being allowed to burn inside established boundaries.

Longview Fibre Co. on Wednesday closed all of its timberlands in Chelan County to public recreation because of extreme fire danger. The company owns 60,000 acres in the county in the Blewett Pass, Mission Ridge, Entiat and Nason Creek areas.

West of the Cascade Range, the Bear Gulch II fire was estimated at 400 acres between Lake Cushman and Mount Rose, north of Shelton. The fire was 25 percent contained.