Dry, hot, windy means fires for the area

Two nearby fires this week underscored the ease with which dry vegetation burns as summer begins, and two others not far enough away burned thousands of acres.

Firefighters responded quickly and traffic was blocked at a fire in Belvedere north of Elmer City Sunday afternoon. Another fire blackened the dry grass and trees alongside the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Monday morning after 10 a.m., also blocking traffic as fire trucks occupied the bridge.

Those smaller blazes brought home the lessons to remember when 'fire weather" or "red flag" warnings are declared heralding the possibility of horrific damage.

The Kartar fire by Omak Lake eventually burned nearly 12,000 acres and was 60 percent contained Tuesday evening after starting a week earlier with a human cause that is under investigation.

A fire west of Coulee City, north of US 2 and west SR 17 jumped those highways, running with a wind on the dry, grass and sagebrush slopes. The Garred Road Fire started about 4 p.m. Sunday, prompting a countywide response and drawing Grand Coulee Dam area firefighters into the fight.

Sun Lakes State Park campers were evacuated at one point. Last night the fire had burned 3,369 acres and was considered 27% contained. Both highways were open.

At 1:51 a.m. Wednesday (today) the National Weather Service issued yet another fire weather watch for Thursday afternoon, expecting conditions to be "warm, windy and dry" with relative humidity in the 12 to 20 percent range until 8 p.m.