Brush Fire Near Daroga State Park Results in Property Damage, Long Delays

Crews from Douglas County Fire Districts 1, 2, and 4, Chelan County Fire Districts 1, 5, and 7, as well as the DNR all battled a brush fire near Daroga State Park Saturday afternoon

Douglas County Fire District 4 Chief Jim Oatey stated that the 7 acre fire spread to an area where the park mobilizes some of its resources, resulting in the loss of irrigation supplies and equipment.

Oatey said, "The biggest issue on the fire was three buildings within the fire grounds. One building was actually on fire, and we were able to extinguish that with damage to the siding and eaves. A second home had fire in the shrubbery and around the deck and we were able to put that out also."

The fire was fueled by dry grass and 45 mile-an-hour winds, and it took crews under an hour to get it contained.

"The road was closed for several hours. The fire jumped Highway 97 and got into some dead poplar trees." explained Oatey, "These were burning between the base and 50 feet up and falling down like missiles. We had to fight that for several hours to try and get those to a point where they wouldn't cause a hazard to motorists on the highway."

There were no injuries.

The cause of the fire is unknown. A power outage around the same time affected about 570 Douglas PUD customers in the Orondo area.