Rain falls on some Eastern Washington wildfires

SPOKANE — The National Weather Service says up to a half inch of rain fell in the overnight storm on the east slopes of the North Cascades, including some parts of Okanogan and Chelan counties where wildfires have been burning. Meteorologist Jeremy Wolf in the Spokane office says while that should help firefighters, the service also issued a flash flood watch for the area because of the chance of rapid runoff from areas scorched by fire. Wolf says many other parts of Eastern Washington did not receive significant rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and the risk of new wildfires from lightning strikes continues. A red flag warning for critical fire weather is in effect until Thursday morning in the area that includes Yakima, Moses Lake, the Tri-Cities and Spokane.