Sutherland, Straight Hollow fires contained
Incident Management Team/courtesy photo Fire crews were able to gain full containment over the Sutherland Canyon and Straight Hollow fires.
QUINCY — Favorable weather conditions allowed firefighters to gain full containment over the Sutherland Canyon and Straight Hollow Fires.
Updated mapping of the area scorched by the two fires puts the size of the Sutherland Canyon Fire at about 29,433 acres and the Straight Hollow Fire at about 8,458 acres. Officials initially believed the Sutherland Canyon Fire and Straight Hollow Fire had merged. More accurate mapping showed they did not merge however, but did come within .25 miles of each other.
Favorable weather conditions over the weekend allowed crews at the scene to get a better handle on the two fires. Minimal fire activity was spotted and there were no increase in acreage on either of the fires. As a result, the Type 2 Incident Management team that responded to the fires on Thursday gave command back to local fire districts early Monday morning. Aircraft that was equipped with an infrared thermal imaging system was used to fly over the fires and detect/map remaining hot spots.
"A tremendous thank you to the communities, schools, law enforcement and fire departments of Quincy, Rock Island, East Wenatchee, Wenatchee, and Malaga. Additionally, Northwest Team 11 would also like to thank Grant, Douglas, and Chelan Counties as well as the BLM and Washington DNR (Department of Natural Resources) for their incredible work over the course of these wildfires,” Nathan Rabe, Incident Commander for Northwest Team 11, stated.
The Sutherland Canyon Fire, which started in Douglas County, spilled over into Grant County June 27 night due to high winds. With the fire making it’s way into Grant County, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office issued Level 1 and Level 2 evacuation notices for areas near Quincy.
Level 1 notices are an alert that signifies no immediate danger to a particular area, but indicates that a fire could possibly be moving that way. A Level 2 notice indicates there is a significant risk to an area and a mandatory evacuation notice could be issued at anytime. The notices were later canceled after crews were able to gain ground on the fire.
Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.