Dangerous fire weather continues in the Northwest as crews work to contain Spokane blazes
By Meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Chris Dolce, CNN
(CNN) — Fire danger continues in the Pacific Northwest Saturday as flame-fueling winds reached their strongest point in days on Friday, challenging fire crews battling to keep destructive blazes from spreading in Spokane, Washington, and across the region, with at least three fire-related deaths reported.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson on Friday announced a public health emergency declared by the US Department of Health and Human Services in response to the devastating wildfires in the state.
A complex of three fires near Spokane in the eastern portion of the state has scorched more than 10,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of homes and structures since igniting last Saturday. At one point, the fires forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate — some have since returned to find treasured memories turned to ashes.
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The blazes – the Autumn Lane, Old Trails and Fairview fires – are being fought by California Team Seven, whose deputy incident commander, Nic Elmquist, described the response on arrival as tackling “a very complex, moving, rapidly expanding fire.”
Crews have gained ground, shifting to the painstaking work of mopping up: hunting down and drowning the last pockets of heat behind the fire lines. By Friday, crews had pushed 150 to 200 feet inward from the perimeter in places, widening the ring of blackened, secured line. The most stubborn holdout was a recycling plant inside the Fairview fire, where crews kept water aimed at the site in what officials called a two- to three-day job.
Firefighters knocked down several new blazes Friday, and officials warned crews not to grow complacent during mop-up. Overnight operations into Saturday noted the fires did not move as the wind didn’t pick up, with crews focusing on mop-up efforts and patrolling.
The toll on firefighters has climbed as the fight drags on. Three had suffered burns, one seriously enough to be hospitalized twice and sent to a burn center after the injury was initially waved off as minor. Elmquist added that injuries tend to mount at this stage of a long fire, urging crews to “look out after each other.”
A dozer operator working on the Wrights Spring Fire in Oregon was fatally injured Thursday and on Friday a helicopter on contract with the US Forest Service crashed while fighting the Widemouth 2 Fire in Utah, killing the pilot and one crewmember, the National Interagency Fire Center announced.
Authorities have arrested and charged a Spokane resident with first-degree arson in one of the fires. The man admitted to igniting the blaze and more than two dozen others since last year, court documents show.
More than 40 large fires are burning in Washington and Oregon — more than half of the nationwide total, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It’s already the worst fire season in more than 30 years for both states, one fueled by human-caused climate change. Smoke from these blazes is also tanking air quality in parts of the Northwest.
Fire weather forecast
Gusty winds will persist Saturday afternoon after ramping up Friday, and along with very dry conditions, maintain concerning fire weather.
A red flag warning is in effect for central and eastern Washington — including the Spokane area — and northern Oregon into at least Saturday night. These warnings are issued by the National Weather Service to warn of weather conditions that may lead to dangerous wildfire spread.
Winds in the early afternoon Saturday will last for several hours. Most areas of the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West will see winds of 15mph, but a few gusts could reach 20 to 25 mph at times.
A similar ebb and flow of breezy winds is expected through at least early next week, but the overall threat of fire spread will be less than Saturday’s.
High temperatures through the weekend and early next week will top out in the upper 80s to near-90 degrees, closer to normal summertime temperatures for the region and less intense than the heat fire crews had to contend with for much of the week.
Temperatures in Spokane, for example, are forecast to reach 92 degrees Saturday and are expected to reach 90 degrees on Sunday, before returning back to the 80s next week.
Smoke and air quality forecast
Stagnant smoke dropped air quality this week in the Pacific Northwest until winds Thursday and Friday cleared the worst of it from western locations, like Seattle and Portland, Oregon. But poor quality remains front and center for many east of the Cascades this weekend.
Smoke close to the surface — where it affects air quality the most — will also travel farther east on the same winds stoking the fire threat. Parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will see their air quality degrade further this weekend.
Smoke higher in the atmosphere will also spread farther east into the Northern Plains and Midwest. This smoke is forecast to stay high enough that it’s unlikely to cause a repeat of the widespread smoky conditions and poor air quality that affected many areas in the central and eastern US in July.
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CNN’s Hanna Park and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
