Evacuation notices lifted for wildfire burning near Colville

Evacuation notices for the 61-acre wildfire burning south of Colville were lifted Saturday morning, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

The Moran Creek Fire started Thursday outside Arden in Stevens County and is 50% contained as of Sunday morning, said Jessa Lewis, on-call public information officer at the department.

The blaze destroyed five outbuildings prior to Saturday, and no injuries were reported, Knowlton said. No structures were threatened Saturday.

Will Knowlton, community resilience coordinator at the department, said a fire line was established on the perimeter of the fire. Firefighters are “making significant progress” continuing mop-up operations over the weekend, according to the “Washington State DNR Wildfire” Twitter account.

Department officials will update the Twitter account with the most recent information as crews work to contain and extinguish the fire and work to wrap up the site.

Smoke will linger for a few days as firefighters contain the blaze.

Knowlton asked that people not report the fire to local dispatch unless active smoke or flames are outside containment lines.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.