Fire crews make progress

Fire crews Monday night reported a frustrating yet productive day battling the blazes in Washington that now consume an area about the size of Rhode Island.

Heavy smoke covered much of north-central and northeastern Washington, preventing the use of airplanes and helicopters in the fight.

“It’s hurting us real bad,” said Rick Isaacson, fire information officer at the Okanogan Complex.

But while the weather that trapped the smoke prevented water and retardant drops from the air, it also slowed fire activity, helping forces on the ground.

“It was a good, positive day,” Isaacson said.

On Monday, officials reported that the four fires in the complex had consumed 403 square miles, making it the largest fire complex in state history, topping last year’s Carlton Complex, which also was in Okanogan County.

In Ferry County, firefighters had a similar day in the Kettle Complex, which is made up of three fires that total 87 square miles.

“We were pretty socked in with smoke, but that made for some very aggressive firefighting,” said Nick Cronquist, spokesman for crews at Kettle Complex, said late Monday.

Influx of help

So many fires are burning in the state that managers are taking extreme measures, summoning help from Down Under and 200 U.S. troops from a base in Tacoma in the first such use of active-duty soldiers in nine years.

Jim Whittington, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman in Portland, said military assets cannot be used against wildfires until all civilian resources are deployed.

Since 1987, active-duty military personnel have been mobilized to serve as wildland firefighters a total of 35 times. The last time was in 2006.

Nearly 4,000 volunteers also answered the state’s call for help, far more than will be accepted, said state Department of Natural Resources spokesman Joe Smillie.

The state is looking for former firefighters or heavy equipment operators who can bulldoze fire lines to corral the blazes and keep them from spreading in mountainous, timber-covered areas. So far, about 200 people with the right experience have been cleared to work.

Seventy firefighters from Australia and New Zealand arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, and were being outfitted to fill a critical shortage of midlevel fire managers such as equipment bosses, strike team leaders and supervisors.

The Southern Hemisphere nations have been partners with the U.S. for more than 50 years, able to lend out firefighters because the severest part of their fire seasons occur at opposite times of the year. The last time the U.S. asked for their help was 2008, with 50 firefighters arriving. The U.S. sent firefighters abroad in 2007.

Chris Arnol, international liaison for Australia and New Zealand firefighters, said at a news conference in Boise the firefighters will be ready for the mountainous terrain in the Pacific Northwest.

Warren Heslip, a 47-year-old firefighter from Southland, New Zealand, said the new arrivals were ready for the conditions.

“We’re used to tall timber and steep territory,” he said.

Costs for the international firefighters will be paid by the agency they’re assigned to, officials said, though no estimate was yet available.

Border restrictions eased

Federal officials said Monday that people who are being urged to evacuate areas near the Canadian border should follow those instructions “regardless of immigration status,” even if they don’t have documents and their route takes them out of the country.

The Customs and Border Protection “does not and will not refuse re-admittance of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, even without documentation or passport,” said Kristin Maypole, an agency spokeswoman.

Last week, a group from the YMCA Outdoor Leadership Program was evacuated by bus from Ross Lake in the North Cascades National Park because of wildfires. They crossed at Hozomeen, on the border with British Columbia, and re-entered at Sumas, Washington. The bus with 27 students, six instructors and the driver cleared customs in about 16 minutes, Maypole said.

Border control officials used protocols regularly in place during natural disasters and emergencies.

Undocumented immigrants who obey evacuation orders and leave the country will be handled “on a case-by-case basis” when seeking to return, she said. “We’ll work with them.”

School postponed

The Wellpinit School District is delaying the start of school because of wildfires in the area.

The decision affects about 350 K-12 students in the district on the Spokane Indian Reservation, said Kris Herda, principal of the middle school and high school.

“The big factor was the buses that run toward Hunters – there’s a lot of activity on that road with equipment and firetrucks,” fighting the Carpenter Road Fire, he said.

Air quality in the area is another consideration, he said.

The current plan is to have students in first through 12th grades start on Aug. 31 instead of the planned Aug. 26 start date. Kindergarten students will start on Sept. 3, rather than the planned start of Aug. 31.

Herda said district officials will meet Friday to reassess those start dates.