A wildfire has been burning out of control in Chelan County, Wash., for the past six days, scorching over 100 acres of brush and dry grass, near populated areas.
According to the most recent update from InciWeb, the "Colockum Tarps" fire started near Malega, Wash., which is approximately 160 miles east of Tacoma. It was first reported on Saturday July 27 at 8:00 a.m. and has burned through 70,000 acres of land as of Thursday, Aug. 1. It is currently at 25 percent containment.
Between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on June 27, the blaze burned through approximately 1,000 acres, destroying a number of unoccupied structures and outbuildings. As the incident continued on, the Chelan County Sheriff issued a Level 3 Evacuation to approximately 60 residences in the area after the fire destroyed three homes and several additional outbuildings.
By 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 28 the blaze had grown to 10,000 acres and continued to spread to the south and west.
On Monday, July 29 a Type 2 Incident Management Team took over managing the inferno as the fire continued to grow, reaching 25,000 acres by Monday afternoon. Due to the unprecedented growth, additional evacuation orders were issued by the Kittitas County Sheriff.
By Tuesday, July 30 firefighters had begun making some headway in establishing containment lines, but increased winds and thunderstorm activity pushed the fire further south and west and by early afternoon it had burned through 52,000 acres.
By the morning of Wednesday, July 31 the blaze had expanded to 66,670 acres and was being pushed west by easterly winds. As such, the Kittitas County Sheriff ordered a Level 3 Evacuation for the communities of Upper Creek, Secret Canyon, Hill Top, Little Caribou, Sheep Creek and Trail Creek, forcing people in more than 100 homes in the vicinity of the fire to evacuate immediately.
A shelter for the evacuees has been set up at the Mercer Creek Church and an animal shelter has been established at the Kittitas Valley Events Center.
A total of 700 fire personnel have made it a priority Thursday to confine the fire along the southern and western flanks. Hotshot crews have been deployed to enhance fire-lines, while six helicopters, two Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs), two air tankers and two small air attack coordination planes are on stand-by to drop water and fire retardant to slow down the spread of fire and extinguish any hotspots.
Attempts to contain the fire Thursday will depend on how the weather behaves; the area is under Red Flag Warnings for thunderstorm activity with potential for dry lightning. While lightning could conceivably start additional fires, the greater concern is that the erratic winds associated with thunder cells could push the fire in unpredictable directions, forcing it to spread even further.
The cause of this fire is still unknown, but an investigation is currently underway by fire officials and local authorities.
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