Fire closes highway on reservation

A key stretch of highway was closed Friday night on the Colville Indian Reservation because of an 18,000-acre wildfire.

Authorities in charge of fighting the Manila Creek Fire closed Highway 21, heading north from the Keller Ferry landing, about 8 p.m. so crews could burn roadside brush and plow fire lines around houses, said fire spokesman Brian Miller at the incident command post at the reservation town of Nespelem. The work is precautionary; the fire remains in rugged ground west of the highway.

That stretch of highway was expected to remain closed during the night, meaning the Keller Ferry was effectively shut down. Anyone wanting to reach the reservation from the south would have to take much longer routes – something that can have an effect on a Friday night during football season.

Some reservation teens attend Wilbur High School, which played a home game Friday. Miller said the fire team contacted the Wilbur police Friday night, asking them to go to the stadium and announce that any reservation residents would have to drive through Coulee Dam to reach Keller.

That round-about route more than doubles the drive to more than 50 miles.

It’s unclear how many people were affected.

The fire, which started Monday and has forced the evacuation of 12 homes, was about 35 percent contained Friday, Miller said. Firefighters on Friday dug a fire line around the reservation’s Mount Tolman Fire Center, which had been evacuated for a time on Thursday.

Miller said 409 people, six helicopters, 30 engines and 15 water tenders were assigned to the blaze.