High winds fan 3 Prosser fires that blackened a building and more
A series of wind-driven fires scorched pastures and wild land around Prosser on Monday night.
Calls started coming in around 8 p.m. when several people spotted a blaze that started when a downed power line sparked a fire in the area around Case Road and the Old Inland Empire Highway.
Flames were pushed by 25- to 45-mph winds and burned about 30 acres of brush and pasture land before firefighters contained the blaze, Benton County sheriff’s deputies reported.
A second fire started up when embers from a controlled burn at a farm at Johnson and Griffin roads spread to a nearby haystack, which ended up igniting a nearby shop.
The flames destroyed the building and damaged vehicles.
The final fire started around 11 p.m. when another agricultural burn rekindled and spread into several large stacks of poles for hop plants near Hanks and Case roads.
In all, West Benton Fire Rescue responded to 14 calls between 8 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., the fire agency said. The included many small grass fires, four power lines knocked down and medical calls.
They received help from Benton County fire districts 1, 2, and 4, Yakima County Fire District 5 and Richland, Kennewick and Pasco fire departments.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 12:45 PM.