12-acre brush fire sparks evacuations near Medical Lake on Saturday night

A brush fire on the west side of Clear Lake spurred evacuations Saturday night outside Medical Lake.

An initial “leave now” order was downgraded to a Level 1 evacuation overnight for residents living to the west of Clear Lake and to the north of the southern end of Walker Lane, according to the Spokane County Fire District 3 Facebook page. The fire had grown to 12 acres and was 100% lined, but not contained. Firefighters asked the public to stay out of the area.

Air resources were on scene Saturday night.

The fire was reported around 6:50 p.m. and drew multiple resources, according to the PulsePoint app.

The region was under a red flag warning, or increased risk of fire danger, Saturday as the National Weather Service Spokane called for gusty winds, low relative humidity and extremely dry conditions.

The temperature reached 87 degrees Saturday at the Spokane International Airport with gusts peaking at 33 mph around 3 p.m. and dropping to 25 to 30 mph between 5 and 6 p.m., according to Steven Van Horn, meteorologist at the weather service.

Van Horn said the wind speeds and relative humidity, which dropped to 12% between 6 and 7 p.m., met the criteria for red flag conditions.