High winds cause concerns after thousands of acres burn around Tri-Cities
High winds and low humidity sparked worries among firefighters managing two large wildfires around the Tri-Cities.
The National Weather Service is predicting wind gusts of up to 33 mph around Pasco as they issued a Red Flag warning for the region. The warning means that there is elevated fire danger for the area until 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
Crews were continuing to work on containing the fires along Old Inland Empire Highway near Prosser and in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness area. Firefighters have been battling the blazes since they flared up on Sunday.
While firefighters have largely stopped the advance on both blazes, they are concerned the wind will push sparks past the fire lines.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire between Benton City and Prosser had burned 820 acres and the Juniper Dunes fire north of Pasco burned 13,000 acres.
Officials said a number of homes on both fires remained under a warning to evacuate if the fire becomes worse.
The cause of both of the fires remains under investigation. The total extent of the damage in the Old Inland Empire Highway fire remains unclear, though officials have said that at least one home burned down.
Ben Shearer, who is providing information about the Juniper Dunes Wilderness Area fire explained that fire danger in the area is extreme because of a warm winter that allowed vegetation to continue to grow.
Todd Dormaier, Benton County Fire District 2’s assistant chief, pointed out that a winter flood watered areas that normally stay dry. This also added vegetation that is now drying out.
Benton City Fire
Firefighters are continuing to increase the perimeter around the fire between Chandler Dam and the edge of the district.
The blaze broke out near West Knox Road and North Case Road, eventually jumping the Yakima river and reaching the south side near Interstate 82.
The fire forced several people out of their homes about 9:15 p.m. and cut off power to more than 6,000 customers. Residents were allowed to return home an hour later, Dormaier said.
A total of about 30 people went to a shelter set up at Prosser High School on Sunday.
The fire burned at least one home, fields, vineyards, cropland and went into residential neighborhoods. Dormaier said it’s still not clear how many other structures are caught up in the initial blaze.
Two firefighters were treated for injuries they received in the opening hours of the fire.
Dormaier said at the moment firefighters are putting out hotspots near the fire lines and they have the fire about 45% contained.
Juniper Dunes Wilderness
The Juniper Dunes fire has grown to 13,000 acres as of Tuesday afternoon, according to National Interagency Fire Center. The southern section of the fire has been contained, but the active section of the fire in the north continues to burn.
About 200 firefighters are in the area, and have been using hand tools to carve a portion of the fire line through the wilderness area.
Shearer said it’s still unclear how much of the wilderness area had burned over the course of the area. But now the fire was starting to move out of it and toward an area of canyons. High winds could push the fire into a series of canyons.
They’re also using bulldozers outside of Juniper Dunes to make fire breaks.
Several areas remain under threat of evacuation:
• P K Highway from and including, the intersection with Murphy road to Snake River Road
• Snake River Road from P K Highway to Blackman Ridge Road
• Blackman Ridge Road from Snake River Road to Rye Grass Coulee Road
• Rye Grass Coulee Road from Blackman Ridge Road to Elm Road
• Elm Road from Rye Grass Coulee Road to Samuel Brown Trail
• Intersection of Elm Road and Samuel Brown Trail following the perimeter of irrigated lands south to the Juniper Dunes Road, Including all properties on both sides of this boundary.
No one has been hurt in the fire.