08/11/2005

Associated Press

Gov. Christine Gregoire prepared to declare a wildfire emergency Thursday, as firefighters scrambled to keep up with a half-dozen large wildfires in Eastern Washington.

Gregoire scheduled an afternoon news conference at her office in Olympia to sign an emergency declaration. At least a half-dozen large fires were burning across the state Thursday, and dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes.

The governor's office gave no early details on the scope of the declaration. The order activates the full resources of the state, including potential use of the National Guard and other crews to augment the work of the Department of Natural Resources.

The largest blaze, the School fire in southeastern Washington near Pomeroy, has charred an estimated 42,000 acres and burned more than 100 homes and cabins, according Garfield County officials. About 1,400 firefighters were on the scene Thursday. The fire was 40 percent contained, and crews hoped to have it contained by Sunday, fire spokesman Greg Smith said.

A new fire believed to have been started by a spark from a wheat truck northeast of Davenport and west of Spokane quickly spread, prompting the evacuation of about 20 homes in north Lincoln County, said Andrew Stenbeck, a state Department of Natural Resources spokesman. The fire was estimated at 1,500 acres Thursday morning.

Lightning in northcentral Washington started at least two new fires as a storm blew through the region Tuesday night.

More than 230 lightning strikes hit the Okanogan Valley, said Mark Pepin, fire spokesman for the Okanogan National Forest. The storm started one blaze in the Okanogan National Forest, called the Middle Fork fire.

Eight smoke jumpers were dropped to fight the fire, which stood at about 30 acres.

Engines from the Burnt Bread fire, 21 miles southeast of Tonasket, were sent to help with the initial attack on another lightning-caused fire west of town, said fire spokeswoman Cindy Reichelt.

State Department of Natural Resources dispatcher Lynn Kenworthy said crews expected to discover other new fires from the storm.

About 275 people were assigned to the Burnt Bread fire, which was 75 percent contained Thursday at about 1,350 acres. The cause was under investigation.

The 1,150-acre Dirty Face Fire, 18 miles northwest of Leavenworth, was 70 percent contained, said spokesman Patrick Lonergan. About 480 firefighters were assigned to the fire.

The 735-acre Lick Creek fire near Cle Elum was estimated at about 90 percent containment with full containment expected by the weekend. The fire was believed to have been caused by logging equipment that caught fire Aug. 4.

No fire-related injuries were reported in the state.

In southcentral Washington, crews battled a 4,000-acre fire about 20 miles northeast of Richland. The McClane fire began Tuesday when agricultural burning spread to wildlands. The fire, which had burned onto the Hanford Reach National Monument in some marshy areas off the Columbia River, was about 40 percent contained Thursday, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

At the School fire near Pomeroy, crews continued to mop up areas east, north and west of the fire, and were working to protect structures to the south in the Umatilla National Forest.

Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., attended a public meeting Wednesday night in Pomeroy as fire officials answered questions and outlined firefighting plans, Smith said. It was the third such meeting this week.

The cause of the fire near Pomeroy remained under investigation. About 100 homes remained evacuated, but fire officials could not say how many of those homes were full-time residences or seasonal cabins.

Garfield County officials estimated that more than 100 residences burned in the fire last weekend, mostly hunting cabins, vacation homes or pads for recreational vehicles.

Fire crew figures for residences burned have been lower than the county's figures but Smith said Wednesday evening his records now show 49 residences destroyed and another 38 outbuildings burned — for a total of 87 buildings — with more areas still to be checked.