Fire burns home near Ephrata
EPHRATA, Wash. – A 550-acre wildfire damaged one home and threatened a farm in Central Washington on Monday as firefighters worked to douse the blaze.
A resident reported the fire shortly after noon Monday along Sagebrush Flats Road, roughly 1 1/2 miles west of Ephrata, according to San Lorenz, director of Grant County Emergency Management.
Grant County officials have requested state assistance in fighting the fire, Lorenz said.
Three strike teams and a bulldozer have been dispatched to supplement local firefighters, Mark Arras with the State Emergency Operations Center said in a statement Monday night.
The fire caused structural damage to one house, Lorenz said, and was threatening a farmstead “up in the hills” Monday night. Firefighters were standing by to protect that residence.
Four other homes were threatened by the fire earlier but aerial water drops reduced that danger, Lorenz said.
Fire crews were also working to protect the county’s communications towers in the area, he said.
To the southeast, a wildfire charring sagebrush and wildlife habitat on the Hanford Reach National Monument had grown to an estimated 3,000 acres by 6 p.m. Monday.
Fire crews from Hanford, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Benton County rural fire districts were fighting to keep the blaze on the west side of State Highway 240 on the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve, which includes Rattlesnake Mountain.
Idaho
Stubborn wildfires in the Payette National Forest continued to threaten dozens of homes Monday and more hot, windy weather was forecast.
Still, fire managers spent a moment in silence, remembering four people killed a year ago in a helicopter crash while fighting other Payette blazes.
Firefighters Lillian M. Patten, Michael Gene Lewis, Monica Lee Zajanc and private pilot Quin Stone all died when Stone’s single-engine A Star helicopter crashed 18 miles west of Yellowpine on Aug. 13, 2006. There was a special memorial service for family members and friends of the four, said Amie Stuart, spokeswoman for the East Zone fire complex. Wildland firefighters who had the day off or who could leave the firelines for a time also attended to show their respects, Stuart said.
Montana
Smoke from wildfires clogged the air in more than a dozen cities Monday, dropping ash and prompting air quality alerts from Missoula to Baker.
The air was rated unhealthy in Butte, Bozeman, Dillon, Hamilton, Helena, Livingston and Missoula. State Department of Environmental Quality officials urged residents to limit their exposure, and recommended that children, the elderly and those with health problems stay indoors.
Little relief was in sight, with continued “hot and stagnant” conditions in the forecast, said John Coefield, a state meteorologist.
“This will help reduce the fire activity levels, but the smoke impacts will continue to be a problem for at least the next few days,” he said. “Smoke levels will be intermittently bad with some clearing as the plumes move around.”