NACHES – Residents driven from their homes by wildfires near two central Washington communities awaited word Thursday on when they might return, while firefighters worked in hot, dry conditions.
Wildfires have burned across more than 50,000 acres in Washington state. No homes have been lost, although there have been some close calls.
Seven homes were evacuated along a mountain road northwest of Yakima after a nearby fire grew to about 3,000 acres Thursday, said Dale Warriner, fire information officer. The Mud Lake fire, which started Monday, was burning in grass, sagebrush and timber.
Residents of another 45 homes along the Naches River were told they might have to flee, Warriner said. The fire was about 30 percent contained.
A state management team began directing the firefighting effort Wednesday evening. About 274 firefighters were assigned to the fire. No structures had burned, but several homes barely escaped damage Wednesday when wind blew the fire to the edge of a highway.
Officials believe a downed power line started the fire.
Temperatures in the region topped 100 degrees in some places.
Farther north, authorities ordered additional evacuations Thursday near the Fischer fire, about 20 miles northwest of Wenatchee. About 20 homes in two canyons remained evacuated, and about a dozen residents in a third canyon were ordered to leave as the fire grew.
Residents of more than 40 nearby homes were advised that they might have to leave, fire information officer Stefani O’Connor said.
The Fischer fire was estimated at about 1,330 acres Thursday. It was believed to be human-caused.
More than 715 firefighters were assigned to the fire, which was burning on private, state and national forest land. It was about 25 percent contained.
The Red Cross had set up a shelter at a middle school in Leavenworth, and the federal government on Thursday approved a grant to cover 75 percent of the firefighting costs.
Another fire on the Yakama Indian Reservation had burned about 770 acres of grass and sagebrush along U.S. 97, about 15 miles southwest of Toppenish. The fire briefly closed the highway Wednesday night, but the road was open again on Thursday, said Edwin Lewis, a forest manager for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
No evacuations were necessary. No structures had burned, and no injuries were reported, Lewis said. About 60 firefighters were on hand.
About 425 firefighters continued to monitor a complex of three fires burning near Lake Chelan in north-central Washington. The Pot Peak-Sisi Ridge complex remained at 46,970 acres and was 85 percent contained.
Lightning caused all three fires in the complex – the Pot Peak fire on June 26 and the Deep Harbor and Sisi Ridge fires on July 19. The Deep Harbor fire burned a dock and picnic shelter at a campground.
The cost of fighting the three fires stands at more than $20 million.
In far north-central Washington, a lightning-caused fire forced the closure of a 20-mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail from Cutthroat Pass to Glacier Pass. About 65 firefighters were assigned to the Mebee fire, which started Tuesday.
The fire was estimated at about 100 acres Thursday and was burning in heavy standing timber about a half-mile north of the North Cascades Highway, several miles west of Rainy Pass. The highway remained open.
Ninety firefighters were assigned to the Rattlesnake Peak fire about 40 miles west of Yakima. The lightning-caused fire has burned about 570 acres in an area that had not burned for 60 years.
Authorities in Kittitas County were investigating the cause of three small fires that crews quickly doused Wednesday night. All three were considered suspicious, bringing to 15 the number of possible arsons in the county since July 1. About 16 suspicious fires were set in the area last year.
Associated Press
A fire on the Yakama Indian Reservation burned about 700 acres of grass and sagebrush along U.S. 97, about 15 miles southwest of Toppenish, on Thursday.
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