Vantage fire close to contained, but fire danger remains high
Smoke creates a haze over western Grant County in early August. The smoke came from what has become known as the Vantage Highway Fire which has burned more than 30,000 acres in Kittitas County. Fortunately for Grant County residents, the Columbia River stood as a buffer between them and the fire.
FILE PHOTO
COLUMBIA BASIN — While fire crews in Kittitas and Yakima counties are close to fully containing both the Vantage Highway and Cow Canyon fires, blazes elsewhere in the region are prompting state and local officials to mobilize firefighters as this year’s wildfire season continues.
According to Ryan Rodruck, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the Vantage Highway fire, which broke out on Aug. 1 near Vantage, is 90% contained and has burned more than 30,000 acres. The Cow Canyon fire, which has burned nearly 6,000 acres on the boundary between Kittitas and Yakima counties, is about 80% contained, Rodruck added.
“They made significant progress toward containment, and both are in mop-up phase. They still have a few more areas,” Rodruck said.
Late Wednesday, however, the Washington State Patrol issued notices that firefighters and state resources were being mobilized to fight two new fires — the Canyon Road fire in Yakima County near Grandview and the Mohr Fire in Douglas County.
According to the WSP, the Canyon Road fire began late Wednesday afternoon, consumed around 1,500 acres — including part of Grandview’s water treatment plant — and was growing. The Mohr fire broke out late Monday and has consumed around 1,200 acres of scrubland and wheat fields.
So far this fire season, Rodruck said, wildfires have burned around 38,000 acres of DNR land on both sides of the Cascade Mountains. That figure does not include damage to federal land. He said hot temperatures and very dry weather are increasing this year’s fire risk following a wet spring that produced a lot of grass and brush which serve as fuel for wildfires.
“We are going to see much higher temperatures, and so that brush is drying and curing quickly,” he said. “There is extreme fire danger in a lot of portions of the state.”
Rodruck said the most important thing Washington residents can do to help state fire officials is keeping sparks off the landscape by securing towing chains, as well as being aware of county burn bans and restrictions on campfires in state and national parks.
“It’ll go a long way to help prevent catastrophic wildfires,” he said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.