CONCONULLY – A fire crew clearing brush near a wildfire in north-central Washington discovered scattered human remains in a forested area.
The skeletal remains were believed to be those of a Conconully man who disappeared in July 2001, said Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers. Rogers would not identify the man until his remains were positively identified by the Washington State Crime Lab. He said some identification was found with the remains, and the man’s wife has been notified.
Meanwhile, some fire crews continued to battle several blazes in Washington on Monday, while other firefighters remained on standby in case dry lightning from predicted thunderstorms sparked new fires.
The Spur Peak and Tripod fires together have burned about 90 square miles of national forest northeast of Winthrop, or an estimated 57,535 acres. The two fires remained separate, but had burned within a mile and a half of each other, said Robin DeMario, a spokeswoman for the Okanogan and Wenatchee national forests.
The fires were 10 percent contained Monday.
Todd Carter, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Spokane, said isolated thunderstorms could blow through the area and produce little to no rain. However, lightning from the storms has the potential to spark new blazes, he said.
Lightning started both the Spur Peak and Tripod fires.
The Flick Creek fire near Stehekin on Lake Chelan was 25 percent contained at 4,184 acres, or about 6.5 square miles. Fire crews were working with hand-held infrared devices to check for hidden hot spots near structures.
Fire crews also were continuing trail protection efforts along the Entiat River to protect against the Tinpan fire, which has burned 3,841 acres about 40 miles northeast of Entiat.
The skeletal remains were found Saturday not from a U.S. Forest Service road near the Tripod fire. Firefighters marked the area on a map and the sheriff’s office was notified.
Sheriff’s deputies, Forest Service personnel and search and rescue volunteers combed the forest for more remains, which were scattered across a wide area, Rogers said. He said there were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play. The state lab will examine the remains and try to determine a cause of death, he said.
In August 2001, the sheriff’s office reported that it was conducting an extensive search for Donald L. Biles, 51, of Conconully, who was reported missing in July of that year and was thought to have been killed. Rogers declined to say whether the remains discovered by the fire crew appeared to be those of Biles.
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