As Badger Lake Fire evacuation remains, some homeowners refuse to leave

The Badger Lake fire burning south of Cheney has swallowed up 244 acres and led to level 3 evacuations, which signal that danger is imminent and residents need to leave immediately.

But some are refusing to leave, said Isabelle Hoygaard, Washington Department of Natural Resources spokesperson.

Tuesday, the fire crept up within 600 feet, or less than two football fields’ length, from the trailer park where many residents have decided to stay put, she said.

Hoygaard said a neighbors didn’t want to leave because once they left, they wouldn’t be allowed back into their homes. She described the neighborhood in Badger Lakes estates as a trailer home park that is “pretty much surrounded by the fire.”

“The fire burned right around them,” she said.

With the fire at 40% containment and crews working through the night to put out hot spots and strengthen lines around the fire, crews are anticipating to “hopefully” lower those level 3 evacuations to level 2 Wednesday morning, Hoygaard said.

But level 2 evacuations still inform residents that they should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, she said.

For the Badger Lake fire, the Red Cross worked with school officials to use Cheney High School as an evacuation center, meaning evacuating for the night could cost very little, but “you’re sleeping in a school so it’s going to feel weird,” Hoygaard said.

Aircrafts have worked on the eastern side of the fire  in tandem with ground crews to contain an active edge of the fire line, according to a Northeast Washington Interagency news release Tuesday.

Crews evaluated weakened trees and snags around the line and removed trees that posed a danger to the wildland fire crews or containment of the line Tuesday. The Williams Lake Fire, which had burned 22 acres nearby, an excavator and tenders broke apart and extinguished burning slash piles.

A level 3 evacuation is still in effect for the Badger Estates and Cutthroat Bay Areas.