Crews continue to make progress on a fire burning in Klickitat County, and those efforts allowed officials to reopen a section of state Highway 14 by Thursday afternoon.
The Milepost 90 Fire, which ignited late Tuesday afternoon, is about 60 percent contained and growing slowly. It has spread over a total of 14,200 acres as of Thursday, according to a news release from Southeast Washington Type 3 Interagency Team, a collection of crews managing the blaze.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Homes and outbuildings are still at risk west of Mary Hill State Park.
“The entire fire perimeter is either a bulldozer-dug line, existing roadways, and/or a combination of wet-line and hand-dug crew lines,” fire officials said.
On Wednesday night around 5:30 p.m., the fire jumped a control line and ran uphill to the northeast. Helicopters dumping water were able to contain the outbreak.
Cooler temperatures may help firefighters extinguish the fire for good, but it’s warm in the interior. And with forecasted winds, responders are working around the clock, focusing on hot spots.
“This is the dirty part of the job,” incident commander Bob Gear said.
Once a hot spot is detected, the heat source is brought to the surface, turned over, doused and extinguished, Gear said. Crews then move along a grid checking for additional spots, he said.
Officials reported they working on getting state Highway 14 reopened as soon as it is safe for both firefighters and the public. The highway was closed between Dallesport and Maryhill. At 2 p.m., the stretch of highway was opened at a reduced speed of 45 mph.
The Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office lowered evacuation levels due to the fire to either a one or a two, meaning some residents should be prepared to leave but none are under mandatory evacuation. Updates on evacuations can be found on the Klickitat County Dispatch Facebook page.
Multiple Klickitat fire departments, park officials and Yakima tribal fire crews have been battling the fire since the initial response, but the suppression efforts are expected to shift back to local jurisdictions today.
Jerzy Shedlock: 360-735-4522; jerzy.shedlock@columbian.com; Twitter: twitter.com/jerzyms
