Fire forces evacuations on rez

Wildfires on the Colville Reservation forced people to leave their homes, roads closed, and a ferry to re-open just to help them leave, evacuation centers to open and the burning of more than 51,000 acres on two fires.

With a wind shift on the Swawilla I Fire, Colville Tribal Emergency Management early July 24 called for a Level 3 (Go Now) evacuation of Buffalo Lake and McGinnis Lake areas, Belvedere and Seaton's Grove as the fire grew rapidly toward the northwest.

Air support increased on Wednesday, including the use of Very Large Air Tankers (VLATS), making strategic retardant drops focusing on Highway 21 to Manilla Creek Road around Friend Johns Lake. Additionally, both Type 1 and Type 3 helicopters have been used to assist with fire suppression, and several scooper aircraft worked the fire.

Wednesday evening, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was convinced the Swawilla Fire was about to be a major disaster. Region 10 Administrator Willie G. Nunn on, at 6:07 p.m. authorized FEMA funds to fight it, the third such grant declared in 2024 to help fight Washington wildfires.

The Keller Ferry, which had been shut down for maintenance and was then kept closed for the fire as highway 21 was closed, was partially re-opened to carry evacuees from Keller across Lake Roosevelt.

A fire behavior analyst had said computer modeling indicated it was highly likely that in the next few days the fire would get to Keller. Eric Trimble at a community meeting in Nespelem Friday night that assessment was still valid.

By Tuesday morning, the Swawilla fire had consumed 47,190 acres, including some structures, and was 45 percent contained. The Bridge Creek Fire is 43 percent contained and has burned 3,950 acres.

Colville Tribal Emergency Management Coordinator Taressa Marchand said Tuesday night that Keller is still in a Level 3 Evacuation (leave now) status, but some travel is allowed on specific roads, with checkpoints, to allow residents still in the area a way to get groceries; the Keller Store is still closed with the rest of Keller.

Local, permanent residents can travel on Peter Dan to Manilla Creek Roads and south on highway 21 to the ferry.

Keller Ferry is open for local traffic and first responders only, from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week, both ways.

All roads south of Cache Creek Road between highways 155 and 21 are closed, unless specifically listed as open to local residents.

Firefighters have been taking advantage of better weather in the last few days to get ahead of more heat to come.

They don't want to give the Swawilla I Fire a chance to re-ignite new areas after having contained about 45 percent of it so far, according to a Tuesday morning report from Rich Cowger, incident commander on the Swawilla and Bridge Creek fires.

Some 616 personnel were working on those two fires at that point, including building containment lines by hand and with dozers. The planned a controlled burn of about 3,000 acres to help protect Keller on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

"Control lines along edges of the burnout will be ignited with drip torches, while Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS/drone) will be used for safe interior ignition," the report stated.

Crews were holding another containment line with mop up and patrol operations around the southern perimeter "from Peter Dan Road around to Manilla Creek Road," the report said.

An evacuation shelter that had opened at Lake Roosevelt Schools was moved to Republic at the Ferry County Fairgrounds for humans, pets and livestock, with feed available. A woman at the Friday night meeting had said shelters were underused because people would not leave their animals behind.

Livestock shelter is also available at the rodeo grounds in both Grand Coulee and Nespelem, with no feed available.

Weather is expected to grow warmer and drier from Wednesday into the weekend, which could make the fire more active, especially at the north end of it, the report said.