by Richard Uhlhorn
This year’s Fourth of July celebration was marred by the Chelan Hills Fire in Douglas County.
Allegedly started by reckless individuals throwing fireworks out of a white Dodge pickup, the Chelan Fire blew up into a major and deadly10,000 acre burn that destroyed 19 homes and hundreds of structures in its wake.
Chief Asher was the Incident Commander responsible for operations. “We were dispatched at midnight,” said Asher. “It was burning in dry fuels and pushed by four to five mile per hour winds.”
At 12 minutes after being dispatched Asher called a second alarm. “Six minutes later I upped it to Level 3 evacuation. The first dozer showed up at 0049 and by 2 a.m. the second round of resources were in route. Asher stated that the fire began running up slope and by 3:30 a.m. the third alarm went out.
“It was the perfect wrong time for a fire to start,” stated Asher. “I knew it was going to grow and grow and grow.”
By 5:30 a.m. Asher knew the fire was heading for McNeil Canyon. He had four engines from Okanogan county and felt he had enough to cover structure protection in Chelan Hills.
The fire then began a run up Farnham Canyon. “We were desperate for more equipment at that time.” A call from RiverCom requested Chelan’s Engine 71 to respond and by 10:30 a.m. Snohomish County fire crews arrived. “I explored all of it. There were summer homes and tiny homes all over the place. We had evacuations going on.”
By 1 p.m. the fire was spotting ahead of itself and at 3:30 p.m. the fire crossed the McNeil Canyon Road. The Sheriff deputies were busy getting people to leave.
Fire crews on scene were reporting fire all around them. A few crews actually got burned over but survived the situation. Fire equipment on the other hand had windows blown out and brake lines and tires melting on trucks. Others weren’t so lucky. The DNR lost several fire brush trucks.
Fire fighters from all agencies were trying to get into designated safety zones. It was like a convection oven and four firefighters were sent to the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.
Asher stated that heavy 40 mph winds rushed the fire through a lot of landscape north of McNeil Canyon Road and said, “The 40 mph winds probably saved a lot of people. It will never happen to us again.” He told the commissioners that what they learned from this fire is already being used on the current Okanogan fire.
Asher also stated that communications was a big issue from Incident Command headquarters to crews in some areas of the fire.
A Northwest Strike Team was told by Asher that they were heading into a dangerous area and should rethink their decision. They went in, but because of a lookout, they all escaped to a safety zone.
Asher also said they were lucky to have the air resources that helped. “We had good success getting everything we requested,” said Asher. “Someone above us prioritizes where these resources are deployed.”
The Chelan Hill Fire was finally stopped just short of Wells Dam. Its destruction will take years to rectify, but home owners who lost everything are already preparing to rebuild. The community support has been excellent with many items needed donated to help those in need.
Law enforcement is investigating and a $25,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the individuals who are responsible for the Chelan Hills Fire which now includes a manslaughter charge due to the one death attributed to it.
In other business:
Chelan Fire also responded to 107 calls in June which is more than 2025. Ninety six calls are average for June. The calls for service included 21 fire calls and 31brush fires.
Fire Season… The fire season is heading into very dry and hot weather. NW. Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California have been noted as being extremely high risk for wildfires for the rest of July and into October.
All Things Lake Chelan 