Crews battle Snake River Fire

As Colton Kelley sat watching a lightning storm with his friends at Nisqually John Landing, he noticed a tiny bright spot at the top of a ridge across the river.

“It looked as if someone turned on a little light bulb up there,” said Kelley, of Lewiston.

Soon it was larger, and Kelley realized the hillside was on fire. He dialed 911 at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday to report what is now the Snake River fire.

As of Sunday night, it’s consumed more than 3,000 acres of brush and grass about 10 miles west of Clarkston in Garfield County on the south side of the Snake River.

It may be the largest of three blazes veiling some parts of the region in smoke that officials believed were started by lightning late Friday night and early Saturday morning during a series of storms.

As of Saturday evening, no structures had been destroyed and no evacuations had been ordered.

Washington state resources were being used on the fire in Garfield County that was threatening homes, crops and cell towers, according to a news release from the Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Helicopters were dumping water and foam on the flames, and fire boats pumped water from the river onto the lower edges of the blaze.

Crews used hand tools and heavy equipment to remove vegetation in a swath at least 3 feet wide, hoping to contain the fire on its eastern edge. As of about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, the fire hadn’t reached the line.

While firefighters from jurisdictions including Garfield County, Asotin County Fire District No. 1 and Whitman County Fire District No. 14 worked, Kelley and his friends watched.

They tipped back beers and had no plans for cutting their camping trip short.

“We’re sitting around doing the same thing we did yesterday, only it’s smokier,” Kelley said.

They were joined by others, many of whom took pictures of the fire from the campground at Nisqually John Landing, which remained open.

Eric Price, the principal of Parkway Elementary in Clarkston, paused for a few minutes with his daughter, on their way to a fishing excursion.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Price said. “I’ve seen very few wildfires before.”