Multiple firefighters from Clark County set out Wednesday to help battle the Snake River Fire overnight in Eastern Washington.
Crews from Clark County fire districts 3, 10, 13 and Clark County Fire & Rescue will staff five brush engines and a water tender led by Chris Kassel from the Camas-Washougal Fire Department.
The state fire marshal invoked the State Mobilization Act, which facilitates bringing in additional firefighting personnel when local districts are exhausted. The Snake River Fire had grown to 17 square miles by Tuesday night, according to the state fire marshal’s office, and was still growing.
District 10 Battalion Chief Gordon Brooks said in a news release that fire crews from around the state spent Wednesday driving to fires near Prosser, Dayton, Moses Lake and Odessa.
The Snake River Fire is threatening rangeland, pastures, crops and structures, and evacuations have been issued for threatened homes.
The still-growing Road 20 Fire near Moses Lake had burned 6¼ to about 8 square miles, and was threatening homes and crops Tuesday evening, according to the state fire marshal’s office.
Both fires started Tuesday, and their causes are being investigated. There were no storms in the fire areas Tuesday.
Brooks said shipping out local firefighters helps districts back home because it provides local firefighters experience with large fires, and it helps individuals build relationships with other fire districts and state and federal fire protection agencies.
“Since the act allows the (Washington) State Patrol to use state funds to reimburse the local agencies for the cost of staff and apparatus, our local taxpayers aren’t impacted,” Brooks said in the release.
Last year, Clark County firefighters spent 62 days working on large fires, the busiest year in the history of the State Mobilization Act.
Local crews recently returned from the North Touchet Fire near Dayton, Brooks said, and they expect that after a late start, fire season may be busy for a while.
August is typically the busiest month of the year in the Northwest for wildland firefighters.
“So far, most of the fires seem to be human caused,” Brooks said. “It’s important to remember that Clark and Cowlitz (counties) have banned debris burning since July 15 based on the statistical rise in fires on the west side of the Cascades after that date.”
It’s also why burn barrels have been prohibited in the state since 2000, he said.
