Spot fire flares up outside fire line as temperature rises
NEAR CLE ELUM, Wash. -- A new spot fire sparked outside the perimeter of the massive Taylor Bridge Fire on Friday, sending firefighters scrambling to contain the 10-acre blaze in the Hidden Valley area.
Stretches of State Route 97 were closed intermittently, and a Level 2 evacuation was issued for areas north of the roadway past China Camp Lane.
With temperatures expected to linger in the 90s, concern for additional fires and resulting threats to homes remained high. Helicopters spent Friday dousing hot spots and flare-ups.
Meantime, dozens of people who fled encroaching flames from wildfires were allowed to return to their homes and learn whether their property was spared by a huge blaze that burned out of control for much of the week.
"Some people will find their homes there and others will find homes damaged or even lost," said Mick Mueller, a spokesman at the fire command center.
People were returning to the south and east sides of the 35-square mile Taylor Bridge Fire near the town of Cle Elum in the Cascade Range, about 75 miles east of Seattle. The 22,700-acre fire was about 40 percent contained on Friday.
"The folks will have to be working among fallers dropping hazardous trees and utility crews working to get the power back on in there," Mueller said.
Dan Winkle was among the evacuees who returned home on Friday. But the neighborhood he had left wasn't the neighborhood he came home to.
"It's just shades of black and gray," said the Ellensburg homeowner. Destruction awaited Winkle and his neighbors at the end of nearly every road.
"Out of the 13 houses one this road, seven of them are gone," he said. "And I feel real bad for my neighbors."
Winkle raced back home from Yakima Monday when he heard the news of the wildfire. He had been away with his wife, who is receiving treatment for breast cancer. He grabbed what he could and left the sprinklers on, hoping for the best.
"I swear up and down that is the only thing that saved our house," he said.
Winkle's home survived. But so has his guilt.
"Why did they lose everything and we didn't?" he said.
Just next door, retired Bellevue Police Officer Jack McDonald came home to learn the raging flames had consumed all he owned. Now the black ground stretches for miles where his home and workshop once stood.
"(It was an) awesome place to live. Now it looks like a moonscape," said McDonald.
McDonald said the fast-moving flames left him with little time to save anything before he was forced to flee. He scrambled to save some of his animals - "The wind was blowing like crazy that flames were just racing" - but nothing could be done.
"I had everything set up the way I wanted it. And now it's back to zero," he said. "It's the insanity of, 'What do I do next?'"
Overwhelmed by his loss, McDonald turns to humor when the weight of his new reality hits him.
“I can sit in my family room. That's the blackest spot over there,” he said.
Loanna Langton's home was spared, and, she said, not by the grace of Mother Nature alone.
"Ever since Monday night, we snuck back in and came back to make sure we still had a home and put out fires," she said.
Langton's car didn't make it unscathed, however. Amid the chaos, she and her husband could not find the keys.
"Finally found them after the car blew up," she said.
Treasured keepsakes and heirlooms are now sitting outside where they can air out.
"There was just so much smoke damage to everything inside of our house, and everything just reeked of smoke," said Langton.
Inside, it's been three days of painting and scrubbing to get rid of the soot and smell.
Outside, about 900 firefighters with eight helicopters continued building a line around the fire.
The fire broke out Monday at a bridge construction project and exploded through dry grass, brush and trees to burn about 70 homes and 200 outbuildings on the east side of the Cascades. The fire burned on the north side of Interstate 90 about 75 miles east of Seattle. More than 400 people evacuated.
Firefighters hoped to have the blaze contained by Sunday.
But the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for high wildfire danger in effect through Saturday night on the east side of the Cascades. In addition to the hot, dry conditions, there's a chance for dry thunderstorms Saturday evening with lightning that could start more fires.
"We're kind of on edge about that," Mueller said.
Stretches of State Route 97 were closed intermittently, and a Level 2 evacuation was issued for areas north of the roadway past China Camp Lane.
With temperatures expected to linger in the 90s, concern for additional fires and resulting threats to homes remained high. Helicopters spent Friday dousing hot spots and flare-ups.
Meantime, dozens of people who fled encroaching flames from wildfires were allowed to return to their homes and learn whether their property was spared by a huge blaze that burned out of control for much of the week.
"Some people will find their homes there and others will find homes damaged or even lost," said Mick Mueller, a spokesman at the fire command center.
People were returning to the south and east sides of the 35-square mile Taylor Bridge Fire near the town of Cle Elum in the Cascade Range, about 75 miles east of Seattle. The 22,700-acre fire was about 40 percent contained on Friday.
"The folks will have to be working among fallers dropping hazardous trees and utility crews working to get the power back on in there," Mueller said.
Dan Winkle was among the evacuees who returned home on Friday. But the neighborhood he had left wasn't the neighborhood he came home to.
"It's just shades of black and gray," said the Ellensburg homeowner. Destruction awaited Winkle and his neighbors at the end of nearly every road.
"Out of the 13 houses one this road, seven of them are gone," he said. "And I feel real bad for my neighbors."
Winkle raced back home from Yakima Monday when he heard the news of the wildfire. He had been away with his wife, who is receiving treatment for breast cancer. He grabbed what he could and left the sprinklers on, hoping for the best.
"I swear up and down that is the only thing that saved our house," he said.
Winkle's home survived. But so has his guilt.
"Why did they lose everything and we didn't?" he said.
Just next door, retired Bellevue Police Officer Jack McDonald came home to learn the raging flames had consumed all he owned. Now the black ground stretches for miles where his home and workshop once stood.
"(It was an) awesome place to live. Now it looks like a moonscape," said McDonald.
McDonald said the fast-moving flames left him with little time to save anything before he was forced to flee. He scrambled to save some of his animals - "The wind was blowing like crazy that flames were just racing" - but nothing could be done.
"I had everything set up the way I wanted it. And now it's back to zero," he said. "It's the insanity of, 'What do I do next?'"
Overwhelmed by his loss, McDonald turns to humor when the weight of his new reality hits him.
“I can sit in my family room. That's the blackest spot over there,” he said.
Loanna Langton's home was spared, and, she said, not by the grace of Mother Nature alone.
"Ever since Monday night, we snuck back in and came back to make sure we still had a home and put out fires," she said.
Langton's car didn't make it unscathed, however. Amid the chaos, she and her husband could not find the keys.
"Finally found them after the car blew up," she said.
Treasured keepsakes and heirlooms are now sitting outside where they can air out.
"There was just so much smoke damage to everything inside of our house, and everything just reeked of smoke," said Langton.
Inside, it's been three days of painting and scrubbing to get rid of the soot and smell.
Outside, about 900 firefighters with eight helicopters continued building a line around the fire.
The fire broke out Monday at a bridge construction project and exploded through dry grass, brush and trees to burn about 70 homes and 200 outbuildings on the east side of the Cascades. The fire burned on the north side of Interstate 90 about 75 miles east of Seattle. More than 400 people evacuated.
Firefighters hoped to have the blaze contained by Sunday.
But the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for high wildfire danger in effect through Saturday night on the east side of the Cascades. In addition to the hot, dry conditions, there's a chance for dry thunderstorms Saturday evening with lightning that could start more fires.
"We're kind of on edge about that," Mueller said.
