Crews Nip Small Lake Chelan Brush Fire in the Bud

A small brushfire garnered a large response Friday morning around 9:00 am on South Lakeshore road about 16 miles west of Chelan.

Chelan Fire Assistant Chief Brandon Asher said the quarter acre fire was threatening a home and about to move up the steep slope of a nearby hill when crews arrived, so they called a 2nd alarm to bring in additional resources.

"On these really hot, over 100 degree temperature days it's really important to have enough manpower on scene to do the digging and the dirty work." explained Asher, "So we called on some neighbors to do that, but the U.S. Forest Service showed up with a 22-person hand crew and that provided us the manpower we needed. We were able to cancel most of the 2nd alarm resources."

No structures were lost and there were no injuries. The cause is thought to be a spark from an excavator's track as it drove down the road.