Associated Press
YAKIMA — Fire crews have made progress battling a wildfire near Yakima but officials are worried about high winds forecast throughout the weekend.
The Evans Canyon Fire, which has burned about 115 square miles between Naches and Ellensburg since it started Monday afternoon, was about 20% contained late Saturday morning. Firefighters managed to carve fire lines in key areas on Friday, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.
“Overall, I feel like we’ve kind of turned a corner on this,” Fire Operations Chief Aaron Rowe said during a briefing Friday evening. “We haven’t got this thing yet. We’re just trying to make sure we’ve got this thing in a good place for when teh wind event hits.”
Incident Commander Bob Shindelar said winds that have the potential to push the blaze west were expected to begin Saturday and continue through Monday.
The fire has destroyed six homes and six outbuildings. Yakima County Emergency Management Operations Director Horace Ward previously confirmed 126 people have been displaced by the fire. No fatalities have been recorded.
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