Mount Adams fire latest to draw crews

TROUT LAKE, Wash. – The biggest fire to strike Washington’s south Cascade Range in decades continued to grow Monday, as weather forecasters warned of hazardous fire conditions for most of the east side of the state.

The Cold Springs fire had burned about nine square miles, or more than 6,000 acres, in south-central Washington near Mount Adams, the state’s second-highest peak. The fire was burning in timber, some beetle-killed, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

No homes were threatened, but firefighters wrapped a historic guard station built in 1909 with a fire-retardant material and built fire lines to try to protect it, said Chris Strebig, Gifford Pinchot spokesman.

People who had been in the area to climb Mount Adams had all been evacuated by midday Monday, Strebig said.

Some 200 firefighters were on the lines.

Crews had no estimate of when the blaze might be contained.

Warm temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds were expected to create hazardous conditions through today, said Rocco Pelatti, of the National Weather Service in Spokane.

About 160 homes remained evacuated near the Badger Mountain fire complex, where two fires had burned nearly 23 square miles north of Wenatchee. Some 380 firefighters were assigned to the fire, which was 60 percent contained.

Twelve miles east of Tonasket, the Cayuse fire was 80 percent contained Monday night at 1,768 acres. Full containment was expected by 6 p.m. today as 410 firefighters and support personnel worked on the blaze, fire spokesman Roland Emetaz said.

The area burned by the Willow Lakes fire, southeast of Soap Lake, was estimated at 5,000 acres, said Gary Garnant, spokesman for Grant County Emergency Management. The fire was 75 percent contained Monday night.

The Willow Lakes fire burned one unoccupied home and two outbuildings, Garnant said.

The cause of all three fires remained under investigation.

Another blaze near Inchelium was 85 percent contained at 372 acres.