Fire near Palouse Falls threatens homes, crops

A 4,000-acre wildfire near Palouse Falls was 65 percent contained by Monday night after being sparked by lightning on Sunday.

The blaze started in the vicinity of Palouse Falls State Park, a popular hiking destination in Franklin County about 5 miles southeast of Washtucna, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The fire threatened homes, crops, a fish hatchery, a rail line and a state highway in addition to the state park, officials said Monday.

Virginia Painter, a state parks spokeswoman, said Palouse Falls State Park was evacuated Sunday and reopened late Monday morning. No park facilities were damaged.

The 198-foot falls at the park dumps into a deep basalt rock gorge a short distance upstream from the Snake River.

Another lightning fire on the south side of the Snake River had threatened nearby wheat crops but was contained Monday to 9,100 acres.

That fire, called the Fletcher Road fire, was burning in Columbia and Walla Walla counties.

State Highway 261 was closed in the area. Firefighters used roads surrounding the fire to set back burns, which allowed for containment, said Megan Hill, a spokeswoman for fire efforts.

At least three aircraft were assisting, Hill said.

Nearby Lyons Ferry State Park was not threatened by either fire, Painter said. That park is heavily used for boating and fishing.

Both parks are primarily for day use, although Palouse Falls has 11 tent sites.

Ace Trump, manager of the Lyons Ferry Complex fish hatchery, said the Palouse Falls fire was not threatening any of the hatchery facilities, which produce spring and fall chinook, summer steelhead and trout. The complex is located on the north side of the Snake River and south of the two state parks. The Palouse Falls fire was moving northward and away from the hatchery, Trump said.

No homes have been lost and no evacuations have been ordered, but the WSP said the fire had threatened various structures and state Highway 26.

Early reports on Monday had the size of the Palouse Falls fire at 25,000 acres, but that was later determined to be incorrect, Hill said.

The state Fire Protection Bureau has deployed four wildland strike teams and was coordinating with local agencies.

To the east, another fire along the Snake River 10 miles southwest of Pullman was contained on Sunday night with the aid of heavy air resources.

That fire started Aug. 2 on the south side of the river, but jumped the waterway later that day into Whitman County.

To the north, the Kewa fire on the Colville Indian Reservation was 55 percent contained on Monday after consuming 1,900 acres.

The fire has drawn a large fighting force of 573 people along with ground and air resources.

A large range fire 12 miles north of Sunnyside, Washington, which started on July 30, spread to over 176,000 acres, including 55,000 acres of sage grouse habitat. That fire was undergoing mop-up last weekend.