Fire on Colville reservation explodes to 8,000 acres

OMAK, Wash. – A wildfire that filled Spokane skies with smoke had burned 8,000 acres on the Colville Indian Reservation by Wednesday afternoon, as firefighters worked to control its spread through timber and sagebrush.

The fire was burning about 10 miles southeast of Omak in Okanogan County, the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise reported on its Web site.

The fire, which started about 1 p.m. Tuesday near Omak Lake, was 2,500 acres and 50 percent contained Wednesday morning, said David Nee, assistant fire management officer for the Colville Indian Agency. But by afternoon, it had grown to 8,000.

The fire was reported 10 percent contained Wednesday night, with no estimate for when it might be fully contained, said Pat Houghton, an intelligence officer with the Northwest Interagency Fire Center in Portland.

“It was not a good day today,” said Nee, who was in Keller, about 35 miles southeast of the fire. “It’s getting into areas where there are ranches and farms and people’s crops.”

Westerly winds pushed smoke from the wildfire into the Spokane area Wednesday afternoon, said National Weather Service meteorologist Robin Fox. That smoke became thicker Wednesday evening.

Erratic winds Wednesday fed the fire on both the north and south ends, said Jeree Mills, spokeswoman for the Northwest Interagency Fire Center in Portland. An information officer at the fire reported that winds had subsided by late afternoon and crews hoped to make progress through the night, Mills said.

The fire made a major run to the south and southwest, Nee said.

Occupants of one home were evacuated. A 20-person crew was working to reduce fuels – grass, shrubs and sagebrush – around the area, Nee said.

No injuries were reported.

The fire also burned through a dump site and an area where old cars were parked, Mills said. About 215 firefighters were busy digging lines around the fire, Nee said. Two helicopters and an air tanker dropped fire retardant, Mills said.

The blaze appears to have started when a lawn mower blade struck a rock and created a spark, Nee said.