Hwy 20 in Okanogan County Still Closed, Cedar Creek & Club Creek Fires Still Covering 110,000 Acres

Slow progress is being made to reopen State Route 20 in Okanogan County as the state's two largest wildfires continue to burn more than 110,000 acres.

A stretch of the road near Mazama has been shut down for about four weeks because it sits next to the massive Cedar Creek wildfire.

Okanogan County Emergency Management director Maurice Goodall says a number of things have to happen before it can reopen.

"There are several prongs that we have to meet before we can get that highway open," said Goodall. "That highway is being addressed every day as we try to figure out if we can get that thing open or not."

The fire has blocked some residents from getting to their homes along Highway 20 because they've been under the highest level of evacuation - Level 3 (Leave Immediately).

Goodall says several Level 3 notices near the Cedar Creek fires could be lowered to Level 2 (Get Ready to Evacuate) status.

There are two areas near the Cub Creek Fire with evacuation notices, but they've been reduced to the least serious status of Level 1.

The Cedar Creek Fire is burning almost 53,000 acres as of Friday morning and is 25 percent contained, while the Cub Creek Fire has climbed from about 59,000 acres to 61,000 acres and is 24 percent contained.

The two fires account for almost 45 percent of all the land that has burned so far this fire season in Washington State.