Evacuations ordered in Manila Creek fire

A regional firefighting center is among the buildings ordered evacuated as crews battle a suspected arson fire that has burned thousands of acres on the Colville Indian Reservation.

About a dozen homes also have been evacuated, in addition to the Mount Tolman Fire Center, because of the rapidly growing Manila Creek fire, said Doreen Smith, a spokeswoman for the firefighting effort, which involves about 400 people from a state team, as well as the tribe.

The fire, which was ignited Monday, is about six miles south of Keller, Wash., near Lake Roosevelt, said Brian Miller, another fire spokesman.

Fanned by winds and fed by tinder-dry forests, it more than doubled in size Thursday and has burned 17,653 acres – almost 28 square miles.

No structures have been burned and no injuries have been reported, Smith said.

The evacuated homes are primarily along the sparsely populated Manila Creek Road, Smith said.

The nearby Keller Ferry, which crosses Lake Roosevelt, continued to operate Thursday, according to the Washington Department of Transportation. State Highways 21 and 144 also remain open.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Mount Tolman Fire Center is operated by the Colville Confederated Tribe. Dispatchers were relocated to Keller.

“The crews would have been coming in and out of there,” Smith said.

So far the center is safe. Crews have burned a line around it for protection, she said.

Electricity was cut to the town of Keller on Thursday afternoon after some power poles burned, Miller said. The Ferry County Public Utility District was expected to have service restored by late Thursday.