Cle Elum area fire claims homes
ELLENSBURG – A fast-moving wildfire burned at least three homes and forced the evacuation of about 200 residences late Friday in the eastern foothills of the Cascades after 25 mph winds fanned the blaze to more than 200 acres in just a few hours.
By early evening, five structures had burned.
“Three for sure are homes,” Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said. “We can’t get close enough to the fire to tell (about the others); we’re getting reports from the helicopters.”
No injuries were reported.
The fire was reported near Interstate 90 between Cle Elum and Ellensburg at about 12:30 p.m. Friday. The cause was under investigation.
Earlier in the day, authorities in north central Washington ordered the evacuation of 100 homes there after a wildfire near Lake Chelan grew to 10,000 acres in 24 hours.
In the Cle Elum area fire, helicopters were dropping water and planes were dropping fire retardant around the edges of the Morrison Creek and Sunlight Waters developments. “Every fire apparatus available” was on scene to try to protect homes, Myers said.
More than 50 people were fighting the fire.
Kittitas County commissioners declared a county emergency, opening the way for additional aid, Myers said.
Washington state emergency officials ordered state fire assistance mobilized, dispatching firefighting teams from Grant, Walla Walla and Yakima counties.
The Deep Harbor fire near Lake Chelan did not burn any structures Friday and no injuries were reported, said Mike Ferris, a Forest Service spokesman at the fire command post.
On Thursday, it destroyed a dock and picnic shelter at a campground, he said.
The Deep Harbor evacuations, many affecting vacation homes, were ordered Friday morning, and firefighters concentrated their efforts on keeping flames away from the structures. The fire was burning about 2 1/2 miles from the nearest home.
Later Friday, heavy smoke prevented aerial surveys to determine if the blaze had grown, or was closer to merging with the nearby Pot Peak fire.
Three fires – Pot Peak at 15,500 acres, Sisi Ridge at 345 and Deep Harbor – were being fought jointly by about 625 firefighters. None of the three blazes threatens the communities of Chelan or Stehekin.
Smoke from those fires was so bad Friday that the Chelan-Douglas Health District issued an alert warning people with respiratory and heart conditions, the elderly and children to stay inside.
Fire managers and Chelan County officials ordered the evacuation of about 100 homes in the Fields Point community, about 25 miles northwest of the town of Chelan. Twenty-Five Mile Creek campground on the lake was closed because of the blaze.
By late Friday afternoon, no one had yet showed up at a shelter set up in Chelan for fire evacuees, fire information officer Debbie Kelly said.
The Deep Harbor fire was started by lightning July 19 and had burned only 145 acres until Thursday, when winds began to expand it.
Sisi Ridge also was started by lightning on July 19. Pot Peak was started by lightning on June 26.