Scores Of Homes Destroyed By Chelan Hills Fire, As It Expands To Almost 20,000 Acres

The relentless flames of the Chelan Hills Fire in Western Douglas County are continuing their march towards more human livelihood and property on 4^th of July Evening.

Douglas County Sheriff Tyler Caille has confirmed to KPQ News that scores of homes and other structures have been lost to the conflagration, which he added is now estimated at possibly as massive as 15,000-20,000 acres, after sparking less than 24 hours ago at around midnight Saturday.

“I've seen several homes on fire or already burned down just driving around in the McNeil Canyon area,” said Caille. “But I know there are more, maybe even a lot more, which have also been lost so far. It's going to be a number of days until we can get in there and really have a better idea of just how bad it is as far as homes and structures that have been lost.”

Caille says the blaze has now crested the ridge of the Waterville Plateau in some areas and is especially active as of around 7:45 p.m. in the area of Roads 20 Northwest and D Northwest, along with the Dyer Hill vicinity, which is now on a Level 3 evacuation notice along with dozens of roads in McNeil Canyon and elsewhere.

According to Caille, the flames are still approximately 10-12 miles to the west of the town of Mansfield, but are heading in that direction rapidly as they're fanned by gusty winds under a Red Flag Warning which is currently scheduled to expire at 9 p.m.

Smoke impacts from the fire have been widespread, although largely within areas due east of the fire, including Northern Douglas County in and around the town of Mansfield, as well as places further east such as Leahy Junction, the Grand Coulee area, and beyond.

Caille says earlier in the day, one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and had to be taken to an area hospital for treatment, but otherwise he's not heard any reports of injuries to civilians or other firefighters.

Caille is also reminding the public to stay out of the area if you are not a resident or in some way officially involved with firefighting or related emergency operations. He says there have been dozens of people running roadblocks and barricades to access the fire zone and take pictures and video. These actions are not only illegal says Caille, but extremely dangerous and present a hindrance to those trying to save lives and property.

The wind-whipped flames jumped McNeil Canyon Road at around 4 p.m., after both it and U.S. Highway 97 (US-97) had been closed due to fire activity earlier in the day, with a three-mile stretch of US-97 being shutdown from milepost 232 at its intersection with McNeil Canyon Road to milepost 235, including the Beebe Bridge.

State mobilization was ordered for the fire at around 4 a.m. Saturday, which has prompted a response from numerous state and federal agencies to assist local firefighters using both ground crews and apparatus, and aerial suppression measures to fight the flames. Caille says he doesn't know how many more resources are currently on the way to assist in fighting the fire.

As to its cause, Caille shared with KPQ News that the Sheriff's Office has received several reports from potential witnesses that the blaze was human-caused and sparked by people who may have been setting off fireworks from the back of a vehicle as it drove along US-97. But at this time, Sheriff's investigators have not been able to confirm these accounts as they work with fire officials to determine the exact cause of the inferno. Caille added that all leads are being followed up and, for the moment at least, there is no reason not to suspect that the fire wasn't intentionally set, although it's also possible that is not the case.

Currently, the fire is still raging without any official containment level, but fire managers are hopeful that a dissipation in winds in the late evening and overnight hours into Sunday morning will assist with crews' efforts to finally corral at least a portion of the blaze.

An emergency shelter has been established at the Chelan Elementary School, 324 East Johnson Avenue in Chelan for those who have been displaced.