More than 700 structures, including 366 homes, destroyed by two Spokane County wildfires

Fueled by strong winds, pine trees and low-lying vegetation, a wall of flames stretched more than 200 feet into the air and swallowed nearly everything in sight in at least one portion of the 11,000-acre Oregon Road fire that swept through northern Spokane County.

“This would have been a pretty horrendous sight,” said Nathan Goodrich, operations section chief for Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 3, as he stood in a torched field and looked west toward a devastated forest.

The fire burning outside Elk destroyed 126 homes and 258 outbuildings, a sharp spike from the initial estimate of 30 structures, according to a new count Friday on the Northeast Washington Fire Information Facebook page. Outbuildings include sheds, barns and pump houses.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified 49-year-old Alex Brown as the person who died Sunday as a result of the fire. Brown died from “thermal and inhalational injuries,” the office said.

In the Gray fire, Carl Grub, 86, died near the Medical Lake Waterf ront Park, according to the medical examiner’s office. The manner and cause of death are pending.

The wildfire that burned through Medical Lake and other areas of the West Plains razed 240 homes and 86 outbuildings, Spokane County Fire District Chief Cody Rohrbach said Friday.

Fire officials took media members on a tour Friday through the northern section of the Oregon Road fire’s aftermath. The fire leveled houses, leaving only metal roofs and foundations, and reduced the forest floor to ashes. Only trees were left standing in many areas.

Todd Light, division supervisor for Pacific Northwest Team 3, called it “complete consumption.”

“No needles left on the trees, no fuel left on the ground, so obviously a really hot and fast-moving fire when it came through here,” Light said, standing near the corner of Oregon and Jackson roads.

The Oregon Road fire, which started Aug. 18, was 16% contained Friday as over 1,000 personnel worked to suppress the blaze and protect homes, according to fire officials. Evacuations were at levels 1 and 2, meaning residents should be “ready” and “set” to leave, respectively.

Kevin Cahill, division supervisor for Pacific Northwest Team 3, said it was difficult to tell how many acres were actively burning Friday. He said crews made a “pretty good dent” on the perimeter of the fire.

He said the north side of the fire was one of the more secured areas, because crews have had a week to work on it. The southern part of the fire is more active and, therefore, requires more work from firefighters, Light said.

Crews could be seen putting out hot spots off Spring Valley Road on Friday.

Cahill said firefighters worked about 18 hours per day the first day or two of the fire before cutting down to 10 to 13 hours recently.

“You try and lower that operational tempo a little bit just because you can’t sprint all the time, right?” Cahill said. “You need to kind of get back into marathon mode.”

Standing in the torched field with burned pine trees in the distance, Goodrich described the intensity and speed of the fire on the first day. Winds topped out around 45 mph.

“All this went up at once, essentially,” Goodrich said.

He said flames likely reached 150 feet above the 60- to 80-foot pine trees, describing the conditions that first day as “a pretty hellish environment, for sure,” he said.

“This is somewhat remarkable for pine trees,” Goodrich said. “Usually, you don’t get this kind of intensity in pine.”

However, the trees were tightly packed with smaller ones on the forest floor, so the fire was able to climb from brush to the small trees and then large ones, he said.

With the forest engulfed in flames and winds whipping, Goodrich said firefighters couldn’t do much.

He said aircraft were unable to fly in the strong winds and smoke, and any water they could have dropped on the flames would have been ineffective. So, the focus was evacuating residents.

“You gotta get out of the way,” Goodrich said. “There’s really nothing that we can do.”

He said firefighters’ hearts go out to those who lost their homes, property and animals. A few people could be seen driving through the burned area and walking on their scorched properties.

“It’s definitely humbling and heart-wrenching for the firefighters as well as the homeowners to see this kind of devastation, for sure,” Goodrich said.

The Gray fire, which also started Aug. 18, burned more than 10,000 acres and was 68% contained Friday.

Rohrbach said the 600-plus personnel working on the fire were doing a good job securing the perimeter of the fire and continued mopping up around structures. Evacuation levels were at 1 and 2.

“It’s been good from a fire suppression standpoint,” he said.