KENNEWICK — A wildfire was burning near the center of the Hanford nuclear reservation site in Eastern Washington Sunday afternoon.
The fire was reported at 11:40 a.m. and was believed to have been started by a lightning strike, according to the Department of Energy.
By about 4 p.m. the Hanford Fire Department had back burn lines around the fire but had it stopped only at Route 11A, which runs east and west just south of Gable Mountain.
The fire was burning in the area east of the tank farms where radioactive waste is stored in underground tanks and to the west of Route 2 South. No facilities are nearby, DOE said.