Thousand-acre fires in Grant County and Douglas County out

Two fires encompassing thousands of acres in Grant County and Douglas County were declared extinguished Monday. A home, a shop, an outbuilding and several vehicles were confirmed destroyed in the McConihe Flats fire near Moses Lake. The fire began Sunday afternoon in a field near Stonecrest Road, said Grant County Emergency Management Office public information officer Kyle Foreman. Investigators have determined the fire was caused by fireworks and have forwarded information to the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office for possible criminal charges. “They know the parties involved,” Foreman said. The final size of the Moses Lake fire is estimated at 1,200 to 1,400 acres. Crews were on scene overnight watching for flare ups. “The fire is 100 percent out,” he said. Fire crews also wrapped up their work at the Crescent Bar fire in Douglas County on Monday. The Spokane County Incident Management Team was called in to oversee firefighting efforts, said Capt. Scott Crawford of the Spokane Valley Fire Department. The Crescent Bar fire initially threatened several homes before heading into the sagebrush covered hills, Crawford said. “It turned into kind of a big deal,” he said. The burned area was mapped at 2,470 acres. No structures were destroyed and so far investigators haven’t been able to determine the cause. “We’re really not finding anything,” Crawford said.