Two fires in a day in neighborhood

Firefighters responded to two small wildfires in the Lone Pine area Aug. 3 amid high temperatures and low humidity.

John Purdue said he didn't know until his neighbor told him that the steep hillside just inches from his back deck was on fire.

Firefighters from Okanogan County Fire District 2 and Coulee Dam were applying water and foam to a stump and burned grass in a patch along the downhill side of the Elmer City Access Road, with Purdue's house at the bottom on Lone Pine about 5 p.m.

It was the second fire in the neighborhood that day, firefighters said. The other melted a plastic flowerpot on a porch a stone's throw away on Pine Drive about 2:30 p.m.

"Suspicious," firefighter Jimmer Tillman said.

Fire danger is higher when relative humidity is low, especially in wind, which was why firefighters were on alert.

The temperature was about 93 at the time of the second fire. Humidity was at just 9%.