Two Soap Lake fires under investigation

SOAP LAKE — Two fires over three days in the same area of Soap Lake are suspected to be arson, according to Grant County Fire District 7 Chief Kirk Sheppard, who said both fires are suspicious.

“There was nothing in the area to start an accidental fire,” Sheppard said.

The first fire started about 10 p.m. Friday evening off Lakemore Drive between the road and Highway 28. The fire burned about one acre, heavily damaging the Soap Lake events billboard, and was brought under control by GCFD7 with mutual aid from the Ephrata Fire Department. Mutual aid support was requested due to concerns of wind driving the fire. Sheppard said the scene was cleared by 11:15 p.m.

The second fire broke out about 4 a.m. Monday morning, this time from Canna Street S.

“The point of origin of the two fires are less than 100 feet apart,” said Sheppard.

Sheppard said a Grant County Public Utility District crew passing by on their way to an outage spotted the fire and called it in. When firefighters arrived, Sheppard said the PUD crew had borrowed a water hose from a neighbor and had begun to put the fire out themselves.

Sheppard said the second blaze was cleared just before 5 a.m. and burned less than a quarter acre.

There were no structures destroyed and no injuries reported for either fire. Sheppard said nobody was seen in the area of the fires, but that the fires had not started without help. There was no obvious start to either fire so the cause is currently unknown and still under investigation.

The investigation is being conducted by Soap Lake Police Department since it is within city limits, SLPD Chief Ryan Cox said.

Sheppard encourages the public, if they saw anything, to reach out and report it to the Soap Lake Police Department at (509) 246-1122.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.