Fire burned 4.5 acres in wooded area near Dwight Merkel complex

A wildfire burned around 4.5 acres in a wooded area next to the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex on Tuesday in Northwest Spokane.

Crews from the Spokane and Airway Heights fire departments, with assistance from the Department of Natural Resources, had the blaze contained after around three hours. There were no injuries and no structures damaged, said Battalion Chief Patrick Walsh. He didn’t issue any evacuations.

“It started out pretty small, but the wind, the low humidity, the heat, it didn’t take long this year to get the fire season kicked off,” Walsh said.

Reports of a brush fire came in around 2:30 p.m. just west of the sports fields of Dwight Merkel. Flames could be seen in the trees from as far as the easternmost parking lot, where people were gathering to watch the fire. Residents across the street on Assembly Street watered their homes with hoses just in case the blaze caught the field and made its way to surrounding neighborhoods.

From the city, six engines responded to the fire, along with a hand crew from Airway Heights and three crews from the Department of Natural Resources. Because of a much larger fire burning near Camp Sekani and others in the area, Walsh said the department didn’t want to ask for too many crews from the Department of Natural Resources, a shared resource in the area.

“We’re going to have crews here well into the night, if not into the morning to mop up and clean up hot spots,” Walsh said.