Update | Burning Jeep ignites 40-acre wilderness fire at Juniper Dunes

The Bureau of Land Management has taken over after Franklin County firefighters worked to contain a wilderness fire overnight Wednesday.

A burning Jeep sparked what had grown to a 10-acre fire in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area on Wednesday evening.

Franklin County Fire District 3 was called out to the Juniper Dunes off-road vehicle area around 3:44 p.m. after a Jeep caught fire, said Chief Mike Harris.

The Juniper Dunes Wilderness covers more than 7,000 acres north of Pasco in Franklin County, and is divided between an open recreational area, the wilderness acreage and an area of critical habit.

The flames spread into the wilderness section where firefighters aren’t able to bring in heavy equipment such as bulldozers.

Instead, they were trying to contain the blaze using crop dusting planes, Harris said.

The planes were dumping water on the fire, while firefighters worked digging firebreaks by hand.

Fire district Capt. Jason Langston told the Herald on Thursday that the fire grew to about 40 acres, but had been been contained and the site has been turned over to the Bureau of Land Management.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 7:49 PM.