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from KHQ Local News
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| Off Highway 155 in Elmer City. |
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from Mother Nature Network
7 ways to ensure you sleep more soundly
Can't get to sleep? Don't try. Instead, make sleep come to you.
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from NCWTV
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| NCWTV.com shared Kittitas County Police Blotter's before and after photo from the Taylor Bridge Fire. |
Fire crews make progress on Buffalo Lake Road Fire near Elmer City
(Coulee Dam, WA) Crews had a productive evening and night shift on the Buffalo Lake Road Fire taking advantage of light winds to locate and construct containment lines on the southeast portion of the fire. Burning out to strengthen these lines in the Swawilla Basin areas as the fire moves up the hill from Lake Roosevelt is today’s main task. The western edge of the fire, closest to the communities of Elmer City and Coulee Dam, is quite secure; structural protection, mop-up and patrolling activities continue.
Today’s weather will be hotter and drier than yesterday and may exceed 100�F near the fire. Although winds are expected to be light, crews will have to be alert to erratic winds influenced by the steep slopes and proximity to the Columbia River.
Yesterday, the fire burned several power poles, interrupting electricity in Nespelem, Mt. Tollman Fire Center, and Keller. Although Nespelem recovered power within a few hours, areas to the east remain without electricity. Crews will be surveying and working to repair damaged powerlines within the fire perimeter today.
The current size of the wildfire is approximately 10,962 acres with 70% containment.
Recreational boaters are encouraged to stay a safe distance away from the fire suppression aircraft that are using Lake Roosevelt to obtain water supplies. Helicopters usually dip buckets near shorelines and the Fire Boss “scooper” airplane skims the surface of open water, taking up water into special pontoons. The lake is not closed, but please keep away from the areas these aircraft are working.
Coordination is occurring between the Colville Confederated Tribes, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington Department of Natural Resources, US Bureau of Reclamation, Okanogan Fire District 2, Elmer City, Coulee Dam Fire Department, Grant County Fire Department, and Okanogan County.
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from Patheos
[Information from this site may be questionable.]Is the Bible Really Enough for Christian Theology? No (and the Bible Says So) [Evangelical Channel]
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from The Spokesman-Review
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from The Star (Grand Coulee)
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| The fire Wednesday morning from Crown Point overlooking Coulee Dam |
7,800 acres burned
Highway is blocked, with no detour
Scott Hunter
The wildfire burning since Tuesday evening above Coulee Dam has scorched 7,800 acres so far, but only burned one old barn.
No other structures have been lost, thanks to firefighters fending off the flames literally at the edge of their properties in some cases.
Three homes were evacuated near Buffalo Lake Road. Others in parts of Coulee Dam and Elmer City have been told they should be ready to go, just in case.
The Star received one unconfirmed report that an apartment complex in Coulee Dam was evacuated by Colville Tribal Police.
Public Information Officer Kathy Moses, speaking for the Mt. Tolman Fire Control Center, said all structures in the towns along the fires western perimeter are protected, and a dozer line is protecting the north edge of the fire that has burned from McGinnis Lake to the waters of Lake Roosevelt, from Coulee Dam nearly to Swawilla Basin on the lake.
Moses said communication towers on the top of the hill above Coulee Dam were protected by a dozer line.
But the fire burned to the very edge of town this afternoon. The National Park Service evacuated their headquarters for the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, sending personell to work out of the Spring Canyon office.
A few hundred feet away, the fire burned to the edge of Coulee Dam’s water filtration plant.
Protecting lands to the east will be a problem tonight, Moses said.
Just before 2 a.m. winds this reporter estimated at 20-30 mph billowed the flames into what firefighter Archie Dennis described as a “fire race.” Flames looked like a line of race horses pulsing into fresh fodder.
At 7 p.m. tonight firefighters were protecting the Highway Tire building with the fire headed right for it. Structures were directly threatened in Elmer City, and firefighters were hampered by traffic coming through blockades. Some complained on radio of cars running over fire hoses across the highway. People in eight cars inside the firefighting lines are not being allowed to leave.
At this point, 7:41 p.m ., the fire is on road, which is blocked with no detour available.
Firefighters were also clamping down on letting anyone through that stretch of SR 155.
Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m ., a Type II fire management team from Olympia will take command of the fight.
No other structures have been lost, thanks to firefighters fending off the flames literally at the edge of their properties in some cases.
Three homes were evacuated near Buffalo Lake Road. Others in parts of Coulee Dam and Elmer City have been told they should be ready to go, just in case.
The Star received one unconfirmed report that an apartment complex in Coulee Dam was evacuated by Colville Tribal Police.
Public Information Officer Kathy Moses, speaking for the Mt. Tolman Fire Control Center, said all structures in the towns along the fires western perimeter are protected, and a dozer line is protecting the north edge of the fire that has burned from McGinnis Lake to the waters of Lake Roosevelt, from Coulee Dam nearly to Swawilla Basin on the lake.
Moses said communication towers on the top of the hill above Coulee Dam were protected by a dozer line.
But the fire burned to the very edge of town this afternoon. The National Park Service evacuated their headquarters for the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, sending personell to work out of the Spring Canyon office.
A few hundred feet away, the fire burned to the edge of Coulee Dam’s water filtration plant.
Protecting lands to the east will be a problem tonight, Moses said.
Just before 2 a.m. winds this reporter estimated at 20-30 mph billowed the flames into what firefighter Archie Dennis described as a “fire race.” Flames looked like a line of race horses pulsing into fresh fodder.
At 7 p.m. tonight firefighters were protecting the Highway Tire building with the fire headed right for it. Structures were directly threatened in Elmer City, and firefighters were hampered by traffic coming through blockades. Some complained on radio of cars running over fire hoses across the highway. People in eight cars inside the firefighting lines are not being allowed to leave.
At this point, 7:41 p.m ., the fire is on road, which is blocked with no detour available.
Firefighters were also clamping down on letting anyone through that stretch of SR 155.
Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m ., a Type II fire management team from Olympia will take command of the fight.
Fire out of control above towns
Scott Hunter
The fire started Tuesday evening and by midnight looked like a long string of hellish pearls at the top of the ridge above the two towns.
Police were reportedly telling residents of Tilmus and Central streets, closest to the hillside in east Coulee Dam, to be ready should they need to evacuate.
Authorities could not be reached, but the fire stretches for miles and has consumed hundreds of acres, at least.
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A firefighters backburns brush at the edge of the town of Coulee Dam
as a defense against the oncoming wildfire.
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Firefighters efforts saved many homes
Gains made last night against 11,000-acre, lightning-caused fire
Scott Hunter
Firefighters will have to be alert against localized erratic winds today as temperatures near the Buffalo Lake Road wildfire creep near 100 degrees.
With the fire 70-percent contained, officials estimated its size so far at 10,962 acres and the cost to fight it at $450,000.
Dollars well spent, if you are one of those folks whose home did not burn (none did) but came close
“In my opinion, (local firefighters) did a phenomenal job of protecting … hundreds of houses,” said Type II Team Operations Chief Carrie Stevens. “They should be commended for the excellent job they did.”
Stevens, updating members at a Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday, noted that her incident management team, which had just taken command that morning, arrived Wednesday night as the fire was headed in three different directions and threatening homes.
An update this morning notes that the cause of the fire has been attributed to lightning.
Stevens, who was not involved in that investigation, was asked at the meeting about that possibility, since it has been weeks since the last storm passed through the area. She said it is possible, and she has even seen fires smolder over a winter undetected and come to life in the spring.
Barring major weather changes, the fire’s only real avenue for growth now is at its southeast end, where no fire break can be constructed where steep cliffs fall to Lake Roosevelt near Swawilla Basin.
Operations to contain it today have been successful with the help of aircraft, on loan from other jurisdictions, that scoop water from the lake dump on the flames.
“If they had not been available for use by this incident or diverted to new starts, this fire would have grown substantially and become established in heavier fuels,” a report states. Forests of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are just east of the containment lines.
Stevens estimated 200-250 firefighters had been involved before Thursday, including those from all local fire departments, Colville Confederated Tribes, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Today, firefighters continue to complete burnout operations in southeast area of the fire to tie in to Lake Roosevelt and hold existing lines and maintain structural protection.
They will also continue to patrol and mop up Coulee Dam and Elmer City.
A blockade of SR 155 was lifted Thursday at 2 p.m. Buffalo Lake Road and Peter Dan Road are still closed.
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