$25K reward offered for information on Chelan Hills fire start

The Douglas County Commission announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the Fourth of July fire that burned nearly 10,000 acres, destroyed dozens of properties and killed one person this week.

Evacuations and road closures related to the Chelan Hills fire were lifted Friday as fire crews reached 100% containment.

Douglas County Sheriff Tyler Caille said investigators are working tirelessly on all leads and is confident they will solve the case soon. He said he “wholeheartedly” agrees with the commissioners’ financial reward offer.

“We have an extremely tenacious, hard-driven group of investigators,” he said. “They basically leave no stone unturned. If they perform just as they’ve done on previous investigations, I have no doubt in their ability to locate the individual or individuals responsible and help bring them to justice.”

The fire broke out a couple miles south of where U.S. Highway 97 crosses the Columbia River outside of Chelan after midnight Saturday. Caille said first responders recently conducted secondary checks, including the use of cadaver dogs, to ensure no one else died in the fire.

“I feel good knowing we’ve basically exhausted all efforts before we lifted evacuation levels and reopened roads to the general public,” Caille said.

Fire crews will continue to monitor the fire while completing repair work in areas to mitigate effects from fire suppression activities, according to the Southeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team.

Multiple firefighting agencies responded to the Chelan Hills fire, and several experienced crew and resource damage.

South Pend Oreille Fire Rescue lost one brush engine and two firefighters were sent to the hospital, and later released, for burns. Washington State Department of Natural Resources lost a crew buggy, which transports wildland firefighters, to the fire.

A Stevens County Fire District 11 truck was “probably a total loss,” said District 11 fire Chief Dave Glanville. One crew member with first-degree burns was sent to the hospital and later released.