Tri-Cities Brush Fire Put Out Blaze Covered 5,000 Acres, Forced Evacuations Of 50 Homes
A brush fire that scorched 5,000 acres and forced the evacuation of about 50 homes was extinguished Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Benton County Emergency Management said.
“It’s possible the fire will flare up again from the smoldering but it can be handled on an individual call basis,” spokeswoman Judy Hebert said.
The wind-whipped fire scorched five houses and damaged a garage on Tuesday, but destroyed no structures, she said. One firefighter was overcome by the heat on Tuesday.
“Considering the temperatures, it’s probably a miracle it was just one,” Hebert said. Temperatures hovered at about 95 degrees Tuesday, and Wednesday’s weather was much the same.
The fire started Tuesday afternoon along Washington 224 between Benton City and West Richland in the southcentral part of the state and was fanned by shifting winds, Hebert said. The fire was ignited accidentally, but additional details were not immediately available.
A five-mile stretch of the highway that had been closed so emergency vehicles could reach the fire reopened Wednesday morning, Hebert said.
Residents of more than 30 rural West Richland houses left a shelter set up at a church and went home after fire crews contained the blaze on its southern and eastern flanks, she said.
A voluntary evacuation advisory for another 20 homes outside Benton City near Red Mountain also was canceled.
The fire did not threaten the 560-square-mile Hanford nuclear reservation, which lies across the Yakima River from the blaze, Hebert said.
More than 200 firefighters from nine counties helped battle the fire, said Mark Clemens, a spokesman for the State Emergency Operations Center.
Elsewhere Wednesday, 40 firefighters contained a blaze that burned about 220 acres of brush on the west side of the Yakima River Canyon north of Yakima, said Tami Jordan, a U.S. Forest Service dispatcher.
No structures were threatened and no one was injured, she said. The cause was under investigation.