Central Washington wildfires growing
Jul 29, 2013, 8:53 AM | Updated: May 13, 2016, 10:59 pm
Highway 97 has been closed for a wildfire burning near Goldendale. (Image courtesy WSDOT)
(Image courtesy WSDOT)
A wildfire burning near Goldendale has grown to nearly 27 square miles, and another fire is threatening homes in Wenatchee.
Spokeswoman Lauren Durocher of the interagency fire management team says the Goldendale fire has grown in part from Saturday’s estimate of 14 square miles because of more accurate mapping.
The fire along the top of Satus Pass is threatening about 144 structures, including about 69 residences. That number was also updated on Sunday. No structures have been destroyed but all have been evacuated.
The fire was about 15 percent contained on Sunday and about 1,100 people are working on the blaze.
Most of Highway 97 between Goldendale and Toppenish remains closed.
“We anticipate that that will probably be in effect for another several days,” says Randy Shepard with the Washington Incident Management Team.
Meanwhile, a brush fire burning south of Wenatchee has grown to more than 3 square miles.
The fire burning at the Colockum Pass area has not burned any more structures since two destroyed on Saturday, but fire officials say about 40 homes and cabins are threatened.
Rick Isaacson, with the Department of Natural Resources, says the Wenatchee blaze is nowhere near under control.
“It’s a very big fire. It’s a very fast moving fire,” says Isaacson. “We don’t have any containment numbers at all.”
Two minor injuries have been reported to firefighters on that fire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
