Juniper Dunes fire grows to 10,000+ acres. Fire burning into wilderness area
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- Juniper Dunes fire expanded to about 10,600 acres Monday.
- Remote fire fought from air and with crews using hand tools.
- A red flag fire warning was issued for Tuesday across southeast Washington.
The Juniper Dunes fire northeast of Pasco in Franklin County had spread across nearly 10,600 acres, or 16 square miles, by Monday evening and was 0% contained, according to the Southeast Washington Inter-agency Team.
The Washington Fire Chiefs Association reported that the fire appeared to be human caused, but provided no details.
No structures have burned, but late afternoon Monday a Level 2 evacuation order was issued for areas near the Juniper Dunes in Franklin County. Franklin County Emergency Management has posted the evacuation zone on its Facebook page.
Residents were told there was a significant threat in their area and that they should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.
The fire had been burning toward the northeast since Saturday night from the area around the northern part of Juniper Dunes Road, driven at times by the wind.
On Monday, it was burning in the Juniper Dunes recreation area 10 miles northeast of Pasco and spreading into the Juniper Dunes Wilderness.
Southeast Washington Inter-agency Incident Management Team personnel had arrived to help on Sunday.
About 80 fire crew members were on scene Monday, and the fire also was being fought from the air with multiple air tankers using water from the Snake River, according to the fire chiefs association.
As fire spread into the wilderness area, access to it with firefighting vehicles as not possible, and firefighting was being done with hand tools. There are no roads or maintained trails in the wilderness area.
No firefighters have been injured.
The Juniper Dunes recreation area has been closed and people are asked to stay out of the area as the main access road is being used by fire crews, said the management team.
Major lines through the fire area were shut down for safety, according to the inter-agency team. Power companies rerouted power where possible to avoid power outages.
The management team also reminded people that drones interfere with aerial firefighting, which is the best option in steep and remote terrain like the Juniper Dunes.
The Juniper Dunes area covers 19,600 acres. It includes the wilderness area covering more than 7,000 acres, as well as the open recreational area and an area of critical environmental concern. About 30,000 people visit Juniper Dunes annually, most of them coming to the area to ride off-road vehicles.
The wilderness area was designated by Congress in 1984, in part because it preserves the northernmost growth of western juniper, some of them 150 years old, and windswept sand dunes standing 130 feet high.
Other than junipers, no trees grow in significant numbers in the wilderness area.
Fire crews could face a tough day Tuesday at Juniper Dunes.
A red flag fire warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for most of southeast Washington, including Juniper Dunes, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday.
A high of 91 is forecast, with wind gusts of 31 mph increasing to 38 mph Tuesday night. Relative humidity as low as 19% also will contribute to the fire danger.
Extreme fire behavior is possible, said the weather service.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 4:51 PM.