Brush fires prompted I-90 closures near Ritzville and evacuations near Cheney

Crews worked quickly Monday afternoon to stop wind-whipped brush fires that briefly closed Interstate 90 and led to temporary evacuations of homes about 25 miles south of Spokane.

A fire near Ritzville closed I-90 in both directions between mile 218 and 220. Left lanes in both directions were later reopened after the flames were corralled and the smoke began clearing, .

Another fire, called the Snider Road Fire, started near Fishtrap in Lincoln County and was driven by wind gusts as strong as 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Smoke blowing over the interstate slowed traffic, but the highway remained open, Washington Transportation Department spokesman Ryan Overton said.

Winds spread the fire into Spokane County, leading to a level 3 evacuation in some areas near the Tyler exit west of Cheney, Spokane County Sheriff John Knowles said. Agencies from both counties worked together.

The fire had burned about 520 acres before the state Department of Natural Resources announced in the late afternoon that forward progress of the fire had been halted.

Thomas Kyle-Wilward, a DNR spokesman, said 15 residences had been threatened before crews got the upper hand and eased the evacuation orders Monday evening. Multiple firefighting trucks, at least three water-dropping aircraft and dozens of firefighters worked to stop the spread of flames on a day of red flag warnings with the combined conditions of strong winds, hot weather and drought.

“The combination of the dry conditions and the winds are the driving factor in these fires,” said Jeremy Wolf, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Spokane. The relative humidity in Spokane was 20% Monday afternoon.

High winds had blown smoke from the fires into Spokane, worsening air quality, Wolf said.

“It’s a fairly narrow smoke plume that’s moving over the area,” he said. “So some areas are not being impacted by the smoke while other areas are.”

Wolf added sensors showed moderate air quality Monday afternoon, with all the smoke coming from fires southwest of Spokane. The fires burning in Canada continue to create poor air quality in the Great Lakes and East Coast regions.

Reporter Paige Van Buren contributed to this report.