1,100-acre fire contained near Grant-Kittitas border
May 19—ELLENSBURG — On Sunday afternoon, around 12:35 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to Bourne Springs for a fast-moving wildland fire at the Yakima Training Center.
"It occurred in an open training area, and it was caused due to training activities," Yakima Training Center Fire Department Public Information Officer Paul Noel said.
The fire was located near the Grant County and Kittitas County border, near Mattawa.
The fire spread quickly across the rugged terrain and was driven by gusty winds, according to Kittitas County Fire Protection District 6.
Despite the challenging conditions, firefighters from KCFPD6, Yakima Training Center Fire Department, Kittitas County Fire District 1, Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue and Kittitas County Fire District 7 worked together to swiftly contain the blaze.
"We are just grateful for the support we got with our partners," Noel said.
The fire scorched around 1,100 acres before it was brought under control at around 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
No structures were ever at risk during the fire and no injuries occurred while suppressing the blaze, according to Noel.
"It was brought under control," Noel said. "I think that's always a successful end to a fire."
The air quality in Mattawa, as well as the rest of Washington, is good, according to AirNow.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
E&E News
6 hours ago
- E&E News
NWS hires won't make up for Trump cuts, meteorologists say
New hiring efforts at the National Weather Service won't be enough to overcome staffing shortages and potential risks to human lives this summer, meteorologists warned Wednesday at a panel hosted by Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell. NOAA will hire around 125 new employees at the NWS, the agency said in an announcement first reported Monday by CNN. But nearly 600 employees have departed the NWS over the last few months, after the Trump administration fired probationary federal employees and offered buyouts and early retirements. That means the new hires will account for less than 25 percent of the total losses. Advertisement 'A quarter of the staff are not going to do the job when, let's just say, both hurricane and fire risks are increasing,' Cantwell said during Wednesday's panel. '[The Trump administration's] approach in response to this has been a flimsy Band-Aid over a very massive cut.'
CBS News
7 hours ago
- CBS News
Wildfire smoke continues into the Pittsburgh region along with multiple storm chances
Thursday begins on a very warm and smoky note across most of Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Wildfire smoke and haze have mixed down to this surface, resulting in code yellow to code orange air quality, meaning that the condition of the air is unhealthy for those with any underlying health conditions. WEATHER LINKS: Current Conditions | School Closings & Delays | Submit Your Weather Photos This wildfire smoke and haze will continue to be in place across our area through 2-3 p.m. this afternoon before thunderstorms develop. The outflow winds from these thunderstorms should finally help to stir up the atmosphere a bit and mix out the smoke. Severe weather chances over the next three days KDKA Weather Center Ahead of the storms, high temperatures will easily reach the low to mid-80s, which is a few degrees above normal for this time of year. Speaking of storms, the SPC has most of our area in a level 1 out of 5 severe risk for today and tomorrow. Storms should form in the increasingly moist air ahead of a cold front and a weak disturbance moving in from the northwest. We should see development around 3 p.m. Thursday, with the highest coverage generally in our northwest zones, although some models suggest there could be simultaneous development in the Laurel Highlands and Ridges as well. Initially, coverage will be isolated, but as storm tops collapse and weaken, this may spawn new development in different areas. Low temperatures and rain chances on Thursday evening KDKA Weather Center Storm coverage should diminish after 8-9 p.m. with only scattered showers overnight, but another disturbance moving in during the mid-morning hours of Friday will likely re-ignite storms during the midday and afternoon hours. There will not be a ton of wind shear today and tomorrow, so these will be more pulse-like, disorganized storms with a localized "microburst" wind threat along with hail. Winds could gust upwards of 60-70mph in isolated spots along with pea to quarter-sized hail. Rain chances over the next week KDKA Weather Center The cold front will eventually sag south into the region by early Saturday with a chance of early morning showers. Most of Saturday into Saturday night is trending drier as we will be in between systems. On Sunday, moisture will return north ahead of a strong low system and cold front poised to arrive on Monday. We could see storm chances increase as early as Sunday afternoon, with the higher chances moving in on Monday. This system will have much stronger winds aloft accompanied by sufficient moisture and some instability, so we will need to keep an eye on the severe weather threat with next Monday's system. Lingering showers and storms will continue on Tuesday, before a cold front moves in, resulting in drier conditions by the following Wednesday. 7-day forecast: June 5, 2025 KDKA Weather Center Stay up to date with the KDKA Mobile App – which you can download here!
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
What does it mean to "contain" a wildfire?
Several weeks of fiery destruction have changed the landscape of Minnesota's northland. The three main wildfires — Camp House, Jenkins Creek and Munger Shaw — are all now nearly 100% contained after burning more than 29,421 acres as of June 3, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Keeping that number from growing requires hundreds of miles of effort on the ground and in the sky. "We're gonna have to continue to get rain in a timely manner in order to keep them in place and not going anywhere," said William Glesener, wildfire operations supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. What does it mean to contain a wildfire? Glesener explained with an analogy related to a campfire. "If you have a campfire that doesn't have a ring around it, doesn't have any stones around it or whatever, it's kind of wild, it's out in the open, it could go anywhere," Glesener said. But once you build or create a border around the campfire it becomes contained. Just multiply that on a massive scale with far less control and you have what's happening up north. What methods are deployed to contain a fire? "Oftentimes, depending upon where you're at in the country, different methods will be used," he said. Aircraft dropping water or fire retardant has been helpful for Minnesota's wildfires, along with crews on the ground doing the same. Heavy machinery like bulldozers carve out containment lines by removing fuel. Rivers and roads act as natural or manmade barriers. Crews also fight fire with fire. "If, for example, you are able to burn out and the fuel is all consumed in an area, you might not have any more fuel to be consumed, so that could actually be a containment line," he said. To measure containment, officials use percentages instead of miles covered. The measurement describes "how much of a wildfire's perimeter is surrounded by a control line," according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association. "If a wildfire is 25% contained, control lines around 25% of its perimeter have been established," it further states. "It's important to remember that just because a fire is contained doesn't mean it has stopped burning," Glesener said. "Hotspots remain and new fires can start due to weather conditions and fuel in the fire perimeter. The caveat that we have there is how far is that heat inside the line." Crews will have to determine if hotspots need water to keep new fires from reaching the containment lines. Beyond that, they'll wait for several rounds of rain to finish the job. "Basically, the fires we have in the Arrowhead, they're going to be monitored all summer long," he said. They'll keep an eye on the fire from the sky using planes, drones and cameras with heat-detecting technology. Ground crews will also carefully trek through wildfire perimeter to get a lay of the land up close. The Horse River Fire is the latest challenge up north. It has burned only 13 acres in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as of June 3, but it has zero percent containment.
