Wawawai fire consumes 11,452 acres

The Snake River Fire at Wawawai in Whitman and Garfield counties on the Snake River was pronounced 100 percent contained late Sunday with the total amount of acres burned cited at 11,452. The fire control was turned over to District 14 at Colton and District 1 in Garfield County Monday morning, but some of the crews in the state response team headed west to a new fire, the Fletcher Road Fire, which was sparked by lightning Sunday morning.

Wawawai Road was opened to traffic at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. The road was blocked off from its intersection with Steptoe Canyon Road on the Snake River side all the way up to Highway 194 south of Pullman as the giant fire roared up the canyon Tuesday, Aug. 2.

The fire was believed to have started when high winds early Aug. 2 blew up embers which were believed to have been left in a campfire across from Granite Point in Garfield County Monday night. Three college-age males later admitted they had crossed the river on a raft and started a campfire at the location where the blowup started Tuesday, according to Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers.

Dave Mahan, Whitman County parks ranger who resides at Wawawai, said a group of girls who had planned to go swimming at Granite Point came to the park early in the afternoon Tuesday and reported the fire across the river. Mahan drove upstream to the Granite Point area and called in notice of the fire on the Garfield County side. He noted when he called he reported the fire was doubling in size every few minutes.

At about 4 p.m. Tuesday Mahan and other Wawawai area residents were watching the fire across the river. He said the fire burned down into a draw where it reached some fuel and a giant gust of wind sent a black cloud rolling across the river. The cloud carried embers which ignited the Whitman County side.

“At first, we tried to put it out, but we didn’t get very far and I decided to get help,” Mahan said.

Bill Tensfeld, Whitman County emergency services manager, said every fire district in the county was asked to send one crew to the fire area Tuesday afternoon. Tensfeld, who was working with Colton Chief Jon Dahmen, applied for a state response which was issued at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The fire was in Dahmen’s District 14.

In addition to rural county districts, crews from Pullman, Moscow, Genesee and Asotin were among those who responded Tuesday.

One rural truck from Colfax was dispatched at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 2 and went to the Baker Road area. The Colfax crew returned at 3 a.m. Aug. 3.

Mahan estimated about 15 crews from around the state were stationed in the parking lot at Wawawai Park on Aug. 3 morning waiting for assignment.

Two helicopters Wednesday drew water out of the bay at Wawawai Park to dump loads on the range fire as it descended toward the river on the south side of Wawawai Road opposite the park.

One of the ground crews worked along Wawawai Road on the side across from the park to keep the blaze from crossing the road where the park is located.

Two helicopters Aug. 3 drew bucketloads of water out of the small lake at Wawawai Park and dumped the load on the fire front as it moved down the hill.

“That was really something to watch,” Mahan said.

Mahan said the fire Aug. 3 crossed Wawawai Road and burned down the hill on the downriver about a third of way. On the upstream side, it advanced past Granite Point, which is about three miles from the park, but it did not advance as far as Blyton Landing.

On the Garfield County side the fire continued downstream around the bend in the river toward Lower Granite Dam.

“It’s quite a sight,” Mahan said. “I’ve heard that said a lot of times around here the last few days,” he added.

Aircraft and bulldozers were at work on the scene Aug. 4 on the upriver side of the fire in Whitman County.

The number of firefighters reported to be at the scene was estimated at 300. Four were treated for heat-related injuries, according to Megan Hill, a Spokane fire district spokesperson who acted as public information officer for the state fire response at Wawawai.

Helicopters were used to drop buckets of water on the fire which had gone over the breaks of the Snake on the Garfield County side.

Official reports said residents in the Wawawai area were evacuated, but Mahan said it appeared to him that most of the ranchers and other residents stayed on the scene.

Hill’s report said the Aug. 2 starting time of the fire on the Garfield County side of the river was 12:50 p.m. It jumped the river to the Whitman County side at about 4:30 p.m.

Two fires west of Whitman County were reported contained as of Monday night. The Fletcher Fire in the Lyons Ferry area in Columbia County was contained with the last shift Monday night with a final total of 9,168 acres burned.

Lightning strikes hit the area in three places Sunday morning, and the fires they ignited merged into what was termed the Fletcher Fire.

Some of the state response crews which were signing off from the Snake River Fire at Wawawai in Whitman and Garfield counties Sunday were directed to the Fletcher Fire.

Monday, a second fire was reported north of the Fletcher Fire and became known as the Palouse Falls Fire. It was expected to be contained by the end of the day. Two strike teams, one hand crew and a bulldozer were on the scene of that fire.

Acreage for the Palouse Falls Fire, which was in Franklin County north of the Fletcher Fire, was estimated at 4,038 acres.