Progress Being Made Baird Springs Fire West Of Quincy

There's more progress being made with the Baird Springs Fire west of Quincy.

Evacuation notices are now at Level 1 (Be Ready) after peaking at Level 3 (Go Now) in the fires early stages Monday and Tuesday.

Jenna Kochenauer with the Incident Management Team says the fire is not expanding, and crews are entering areas where it's easing up.

"It's stayed within its current footprint, and we've been able to go through about 30 percent of the burned out area with our hand crews to make sure that the hotspots are taken care of," Kochenauer said.

The Baird Springs Fire is now 30 percent contained. It's still one of the larger fires seen so far this season in Washington at about 2,400 acres and is being handled at the statewide level to provide a more robust response.

Kochenauer is with the SE Washington Incident Management Team 1 out of Yakima. She's advising travelers on the close by State Route 28 to drive at a reduced speed.

"The helicopters are flying by," Kochenauer said. "We want to make sure that folks are reducing speed. And also, we still have a lot of personnel and apparatus in the area. We're just asking folks to slow down. Give themselves a little extra time to get to where they're going to try and help keep our firefighters safe."

More than 100 personnel are working the fire with more than 30 fire engines and heavy duty machinery.

Kochenauer says it's likely her statewide team will be handing the Baird Springs Fire over to local fire departments in the next several days as it starts winding down.