Dry weather returns to forests

Associated Press

OMAK — After several days of rain that helped firefighters rein in Washington’s wildfires, crews braced Saturday for the return of the sun on the state’s arid east side.

Temperatures in Eastern Washington were expected to reach the upper 80s through the weekend, though no significant winds were predicted, said National Weather Service meteorologist Lyle Hammer in Spokane.

"So far, we’ve seen some smoke, but no great fire movement," said spokesman Steve Butterworth with the Wenatchee and Okanogan National Forests.

A battalion of U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Lewis was completing ground training Saturday at the Brewster complex of fires, which have been contained, said Michael Stuckey, fire information officer with the Virginia Lake Complex of fires on the COlville Indian Reservation.

Once the 550-member Army task force completed its training, the soldiers would be assigned to mop up the 31,860-acre St. Mary’s fire, which is part of the Virginia Lake Complex.

"We’re taking it as it comes to put them where they are most needed," Stuckey said.

With help from the rain, most of the wildfires in Eastern Washington stopped growing last week, and crews bore down to complete containment lines around them.

There’s been some reorganizing as the fires wind down.

The 82,738-acre Virginia Lake Complex now includes the 3,105-acre Bailey Mountain fire, which had been part of the Tonasket complex, 16 miles southeast of Tonasket. The Bailey Mountain blaze was about 50 percent contained, and crews hoped for full containment by Monday.

Crews were turning their attention to the 1,200-acre Windy-Swamp Complex, in remote country about 16 miles west of Loomis, said Forest Service spokeswoman Cynthia Reichelt. Those fires also had been considered part of the Tonasket complex, she said.

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