Firefighters douse fire near Newman Lake

More than 10 fire agencies with a combined 60 firefighters responded to a five- to seven-acre brush fire north of Newman Lake.

The fire, which Department of Natural Resources spokesman Guy Gifford called the North Newman fire, started a little before 2:30 p.m. Monday near Muzzy Road and Thompson Creek. He said the blaze had fire lines built around 100 percent of it. The fire’s forward progress had been stopped. A couple of engines are expected to stay on the fire all night and firefighters will be mopping up the fire Tuesday. As of 8:20 p.m. Monday all air resources brought in were released, no buildings were damaged and no people were reported injured.

“Progress is looking good,” Gifford said.

He said the fire happened in a wooded area and because of the heat and lack of humidity, the fire spotted, throwing embers ahead that caused the fire to spread faster.

Air tankers scooped water from Newman Lake to fight the fire, Gifford said. A lack of strong winds helped with containment efforts.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Story reported by Rebecca White, Jonathan Glover and Amy Edelen