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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Evacuation warnings called off after brushfire starts north of Fairchild Air Force Base

A wildfire estimated at 35 to 40 acres burned a few miles north of Fairchild Air Force Base and spurred evacuation warnings before firefighters put it out Saturday evening.

District 10 Chief Ken Johnson said no structures were lost and the fire was contained by about 8 p.m.

Johnson said firefighters hadn’t determined the cause, but a power line in the area was down Saturday evening and cut off power to some homes on Tepee Road, where Level 1 evacuations were also in place. That means residents were told to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice, but the warning was called off later in the evening.

Wind continued to drive the fire as crews worked to bulldoze a line around it, Johnson said. A helicopter also dropped buckets on the blaze from above.

Johnson said about 75 firefighters from Districts 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10, along with Spokane Valley, Spokane and Department of Natural Resources, were working together on the blaze.

Johnson said the first call came in after 4 p.m. that a brushfire was in the grass near someone’s yard. He said five or six houses were threatened at the fire’s start.