Calm helps firefighters in face of heat, dryness

DAYTON, Wash. – Warm temperatures and low humidity created a fire-friendly atmosphere in Washington state for the Labor Day weekend, but firefighters got an unexpected break on Saturday: relatively little wind.

The Columbia Complex of fires in southeast Washington near Dayton, which have burned 124 square miles, created a lot of smoke on Saturday, but did not grow appreciably, said fire spokesman Mark Morrow. The fire was 25 percent contained at nearly 80,000 acres Friday.

Although temperatures were high, low winds, 1,558 firefighters and five helicopters kept the fire in check, Morrow said. “It was good today. Nothing bad happened,” he said.

No new buildings are threatened by the fire, which has already destroyed 15 structures. Although evacuation orders remain in effect for some area residents – at least a few hundred people – some were being allowed to move back home as firefighters made progress building fire lines, Morrow said.

Morrow said temperatures were expected to be warm again today. “We’re a little concerned about that. You never know when you might get a combination of high temperatures and wind gusts,” he said.

Washington’s largest wildfire, the Tripod Complex of fires northeast of Winthrop, was “sort of behaving itself,” said fire spokesman Roland Emetaz. Al- though temperatures ranged from 74 to 82 degrees and humidity was as low as 13 percent in some areas of the fire, which has blackened nearly 235 square miles, did not grow noticeably on Saturday.

“It’s not doing completely what we want it to do, but it hasn’t made any significant runs,” Emetaz said.

About 2,250 firefighters are fighting the fire, which remained at 54 percent contained Saturday. Emetaz said the fire made a few small runs on its north and east sides, but firefighters had those new sections under control.

Other fires of note:

•A 327-acre wildfire on Quinns Meadows Road near Colville was 75 percent contained.

•The Bear Gulch fire near Olympic National Park stood at 800 acres and was 60 percent trailed.

•Crews continued to monitor the 5,578-acre Flick Creek fire on the east shore of Lake Chelan. That fire was 40 percent contained.