150 Acre Fire Along Highway 12

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Story Published: Jul 15, 2009 at 10:16 PM PST

By Stacy Lilienthal

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Workers expect it to take two to three days to put out a 150 acre fire along Highway 12. It started in the Oak Creek Wildlife Area Wednesday afternoon and ran on both sides of the Highway.

Helicopters dropped water, air tankers came with retardant, while dozers cut lines, and about 100 fire fighters took on the flames. "It's amazing how quickly these resources come together and are able to put out fires like this. It's just a miracle," Naches Volunteer Fire Fighter, Carol Roth said.

They had to be efficient because the fire kept growing. Some on foot showed up after battling a blaze in Ahtanum. "Fire season has been delayed about 30 days and now we're starting to see that delay catch up to us. We're at the beginning of what could be a real busy fire season," Fire Information Officer, Nick Mickel predicts.

"From where we stopped we could see the smoke coming up the valley, and smell it, and taste it," Nathan Vanderwilt said. He was taking his two-week-old baby on his first camping trip and got caught in traffic. "We got stopped 20 minutes up the road. Then we got to go a few more miles and then waited again."

What started it all? A car caught fire on highway 12. Sparks jumped to both sides of the road. The highway was shut down for hours. "We're trying to work through that back log of people that were stuck on the road block for a few hours," Mickel said Wednesday afternoon as he watched traffic go buy in shifts lead by pilot cars.

Crews had to deal with the heat, and had to try to put the fire out in areas with little vehicle access. But they say they always find a way... even if it takes days.

They say highway 12 should be open to both lanes of traffic, but at a reduced speed starting Wednesday night. They're still investigating what caused the vehicle fire.

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