The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

It began with a roadside fire July 5, along SR-155 south of Electric City where a small blaze burned grasses both sides of the highway near jeopardizing homes.

In the following days, various agencies in the region would call for immediate evacuations of areas where a wildfire had started quickly.

Thunderstorms with multiple lightning strikes didn't help amid conditions the National Weather Service had predicted would include low relative humidity with stiffer winds, calling for a "Fire Weather Watch" or "Red Flag" alerts: fires could start easily and spread rapidly.

A portion of U.S. 2 washed out between mileposts 162 and 171 as flash flood erosion caved in one lane.

Fires near Quincy broke out, just as the Gold Mountain Ridge Fire on the Colville Reservation that started June 29 was fully contained at 28 acres.

And a wildfire across the highway from Big Wally's in Coulee City Monday but was put out quickly enough that Electric City resources were called off before they arrived.

Electric City Chief Mark Payne said that department did send a tender truck to the Trinidad and Crescent Bar, near Quincy Monday. The crew didn't return until Tuesday morning.

That "Baird Springs Fire" drew Federal Emergency Management Agency funding on Tuesday when FEMA decided it "threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute a major disaster," the third such declaration in Washington state this year.

In addition to firefighting funding, the declaration also makes available for another $1.23 million through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Post Fire for the mitigation of future wildfires and related hazards, such as flood after fire or erosion. Some eligible wildfire project types include defensible space measures, ignition-resistant construction, and hazardous fuels reduction.

The National Park Service said Tuesday it would ban campfires in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area beginning Friday.