Fires erupt on dry, windy Friday

Firefighters from at least 10 different agencies fought a "stubborn" fire on a windy Friday weather forecasters had predicted could be a bad one. It was.

The fire dubbed the Plum Point Fire erupted the same afternoon fires near Coulee City, Quincy, Medical Lake, and Elk started amid a Red Flag warning by the National Weather Service that fires that starting in the windy, dry conditions could spread rapidly.

Initially estimated at 60-80 acres about 1:15, the Plum Point Fire was finally kept down to only about 240 acres, but structures, including a couple small homes, unoccupied at the time and possibly vacation homes, were lost, along with some sheds and small outbuildings. No one was hurt.

Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish said the cause of the fire wasn't certain, but firefighters suspect it started near a doublewide trailer visible from the road that had a for-sale sign on it.

With fire crews from Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Almira, Wilbur, Lincoln County Fire Districts 7 and 8, Grant County Fire District 6, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management, state Department of Natural Resources, and the Mt. Tolman Fire Center and the National Park Service, and a line crew from Grant County PUD, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office asked people to avoid the area.

The fire was spread over a half-mile "between structures, haystacks and sage brush," they said.

Firefighters thought about mid-afternoon they'd be starting mop-up operations soon, but then a wind kicked up to give the fire new life.

They worked for another couple hours before BLM was able to bring in three Fire Boss airplanes to drop water on the flames from Lake Roosevelt.

"The western edge of the fire was stubborn and resisted firefighters' efforts until three Fireboss airplanes showed up and helped finish knocking it down," the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook reported.

Grant County PUD crews were on the scene making the power lines safe and replacing poles and lines so that irrigation pumps on the Rosenberg Ranch could supply the fire trucks with water, the department noted.

One firefighter was OK after treatment for a heat-related illness.

NPS firefighters remained on the site through Tuesday, Fish said. One person reported from a boat on the lake there appeared to be flames continuing to burn on Monday. Firefighters checked it out. A tree was burning in the middle of already blackened ground but was not a threat.

The Road L Fire outside Coulee City was contained about 4 p.m. Friday, after burning about 762 acres but no structures, the Wenatchee World reported.

The fires at Medical Lake and Elk each claimed one life and destruction of homes and structures. Residents of Medical Lake, where 10,000 acres burned, were only allowed to return home on Tuesday, after rains helped with the fire that caused the closure of I-90 west of Spokane for days. It opened Tuesday.