Fire again threatened Zintel Canyon homes

A two-alarm Kennewick wildfire threatened homes on the edge of Zintel Canyon on Thursday.

Firefighters fought back a blaze near 19th Avenue that blackened grass and trees and sent plumes of smoke into the air around 12:30 p.m.

Kennewick, Richland and Pasco fire departments along with Benton County fire districts 1 and 4 and Franklin County district 3 joined in the effort to successfully keep the flames from reaching houses and other buildings.

Six to seven structures were threatened but were saved, said city officials. One firefighter suffered a minor injury.

Scott Mathews, a rain gutter installer, was on Rainier Street meeting a potential customer when he saw the smoke billowing from the 63-acre park.

He wanted to see if anyone needed help, so he got into his truck and drove up to one of the homes threatened, arriving before the firefighters.

Mathews saw an elderly woman trying to connect her hoses to reach her fence and a shed. He helped with the hoses, stretching them to the back of her lot and then began spraying water to keep her fence from igniting.

Fierce flames were burning the undergrowth on the other side of the fence in the canyon, which is a natural area owned by the city.

The fire burned two acres very near where another fire in June scorched six acres.

The Spirit of America Trail is closed again indefinitely from West 15th Avenue to the south end of the trail at 24th Avenue while city officials assess the tree damage and make sure there are no other hot spots.

Earlier this summer, Kennewick resident Jeff Wiens was spearheading a community effort to clean up that trail area because of the graffiti and trash left at homeless camps.

The cause of Thursday’s fire is unknown, said officials.

Fire officials were reminding the public that the current fire danger rating is “very high.”

They recommend property owners create a 30-foot fire-resistant space around their homes to keep fires from spreading. They also recommend fire-resistant plants and well-irrigated landscaping.

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 12:58 PM.