In the news:
Originally published August 13, 2012 at 10:53 PM | Page modified August 14, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Wildfire raging in Kittitas County
A fast-moving wildfire driven by high winds was burning east of Cle Elum in Central Washington, reportedly destroying about 60 homes.
BETTINA HANSEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Tom Colvin, 63, of Cle Elum, takes a break from sifting through his belongings Tuesday August 13, 2012 after his house on Bettas Road succumbed to the Taylor Bridge Fire. 'This October I would have had the house for six years,' said Colvin. 'I didn't quite make it.'
BETTINA HANSEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Firefighters battling the Taylor Bridge wildfire wait at dawn at a burnout line along Pheasant Lane at Reeser Creek Road near Ellensburg. High winds and dry conditions are fueling the fire that had burned nearly 26,000 acres by Tuesday morning.
JORDAN STEAD / THE SEATTLE TIMES
John Shea leans on a ranch gate near Monday's fire outside Cle Elum.
JORDAN STEAD / THE SEATTLE TIMES
A member of the Department of Natural Resources prepares to charge into a patch of flaming land to help extinguish the blaze of a massive fire near Cle Elum.
BETTINA HANSEN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Firefighters wait at the burnout line along Pheasant Lane at Reeser Creek Road near Ellensburg as a brush fire fueled by high winds advances east.
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CLE ELUM, Kittitas County — A fast-moving wildfire driven by high winds was burning east of Cle Elum in Central Washington, reportedly destroying about 60 homes and scorching nearly 26,000 acres.
Dry vegetation was fueling the fire on steep terrain, making it difficult for firefighters to knock it down. Firefighters had zero containment of the fire Monday evening.
The fire near Highway 10 started about 1:15 p.m. and quickly spread at a rate of about 30 mph, jumping over Highway 97.
All nearby homeowners were ordered to evacuate, said Richelle Risdon, spokeswoman for Kittitas County Fire District 7. Evacuation areas include Swauk Valley, Prairie Valley, Bettas Road Hidden Valley and Ellensburg Ranches Road. Evacuees were told that they could go to the Cle Elum Centennial Center and that animals could be taken to the Kittitas County fairgrounds in Ellensburg.
The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office was advising people in the fire's path to leave their homes, according to the Daily Record newspaper of Ellensburg.
If homeowners are unsure whether to evacuate, they should do so, Risdon advised.
Central Washington University was coordinating with local authorities to house evacuees, according to the Daily Record.
Strike teams from King County, Yakima, Selah and other areas were called in, and several air units — three helicopters and a fixed-wing airplane — joined the fight, Mark Grassel, with the state Department of Natural Resources, told the Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper. Additional firefighters were being called up.
Grassel said the fire was burning about four miles east of Cle Elum and headed away from that community.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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