Fire danger continues in the Pacific Northwest Saturday as flame-fueling winds reached their strongest point in days on Friday, challenging fire crews battling to keep destructive blazes from spreading in Spokane, Washington, and across the region.
A complex of three fires near Spokane in the eastern portion of the state has scorched more than 10,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of homes and structures since igniting last Saturday. At one point, the fires forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate — some have since returned to find treasured memories turned to ashes.
The blazes – the Autumn Lane, Old Trails and Fairview fires – are being fought by California Team Seven, whose deputy incident commander, Nic Elmquist, described the response on arrival as tackling “a very complex, moving, rapidly expanding fire.”
Crews have gained ground, shifting to the painstaking work of mopping up: hunting down and drowning the last pockets of heat behind the fire lines. By Friday, crews had pushed 150 to 200 feet inward from the perimeter in places, widening the ring of blackened, secured line. The most stubborn holdout was a recycling plant inside the Fairview fire, where crews kept water aimed at the site in what officials called a two- to three-day job.
