Blaze near Ellensburg forces evacuations

ELLENSBURG – For the second consecutive year, residents near Elk Heights west of Ellensburg have been forced to evacuate because of a wildfire.

The fire, which started shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, was estimated at about 80 acres by late Wednesday afternoon, Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said. The fire was burning in brush and timber about 15 miles west of Ellensburg on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains.

Nine homes were evacuated – some of them the same homes evacuated last summer due to a wildfire started by an arsonist. That fire burned three homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds.

The current blaze borders areas burned last year. The fire burned within 100 feet of one home and touched the edge of Interstate 90, although the highway remained open. No injuries were reported and no buildings or livestock were lost, Myers said.

Two helicopters and one airplane were dropping water and retardant and a state firefighting crew was assigned to the blaze.

The fire was believed to have started accidentally in a back yard firepit, Myers said.

Conditions were better to the north, where residents of 75 homes near Lake Wenatchee were allowed to return home Wednesday morning after fire crews made progress in containing a wildfire there.

The fire continued to burn on the south slope of Dirtyface Mountain in Chelan County, about 10 miles northeast of Stevens Pass and 18 miles northwest of Leavenworth. The blaze had burned nearly 1,000 acres and was 30 percent contained Wednesday, fire officials said.

Fire officials had ordered the homes evacuated Monday after the fire burned to within 100 yards of some houses. The residents of those homes, as well as the residents of another 70 scattered homes in the area, were to remain under a Level II evacuation warning, which means they should be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

“Winds are expected for tomorrow,” Forest Service spokeswoman Robin DeMario said Wednesday. “If the winds do their thing tomorrow, then we’ll have to reassess and deal with it as it comes.”

About 605 firefighters were assigned to the blaze, which started Saturday, apparently in a mobile home, before spreading to nearby brush on state-protected land and parts of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. No injuries were reported, and no additional homes had burned.

Elsewhere in north-central Washington, a new fire forced intermittent closure of the North Cascades Highway in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area to allow helicopters to make water drops.

That fire, reported Wednesday by a National Park Service volunteer, was estimated at about seven acres and was moving up the slope of Davis Peak. When the fire moved beneath a Seattle City Light power line at the base of the mountain, the utility de-energized the line to permit water drops.

Smokejumpers and park firefighters were assigned to that blaze.

The Shady wildfire about 12 miles northwest of Stehekin in North Cascades National Park remained at 109 acres and was reported 65 percent contained Wednesday morning, park officials said in a news release. About 85 firefighters were assigned to that blaze.

Due to the increasing wildfire danger, the Forest Service banned campfires on national forest lands in Kittitas and Yakima counties, beginning today. In Chelan and Okanogan counties, campfires will be limited to existing fire rings in designated campgrounds.

The Olympic National Park also banned open fires in the wilderness backcountry, starting today. Fires will be permitted only at established campgrounds.

The state already had banned campfires on state land due to wildfire dangers.