This afternoon a three-alarm brushfire broke out near Greater Wenatchee Regional Landfill.

The fire, which started raging at 3:15 p.m. local time, required Level 2 evacuations. This indicates "significant danger" to the immediate area. Evacuations were imposed along Batterman Rd. and 4th Street SE.

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About 15 acres were afflicted at the outset. The fire is now projected to consume 60 acres.

"There are three [helicopters], two dozers and two or three handcrews working," says Kay McKellar, spokeswoman for the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department. McKellar has been in contact with fire chief Brian Brett; she says they last touched base at around 6 p.m.

"It's close to containment line. The concern is the wind. They have a line circling the fire; they're concerned that if the wind picks up, the line might not hold over night. They'll be people monitoring that."

Containment lines are necessary to ensure the fire doesn't ascend upslope.

When KPQ spoke to Brett this afternoon, it was thought that the fire posed a threat to 20 or 30 structures. (Brett likened the blaze to the Batterman fire that occurred in July 2021. Several thousand acres were ravaged in the Batterman fire.) That estimate hasn't changed, says McKellar.

"We currently have eight fire departments - local folks doing automatic aid to each department that may need help. And then, of course, we have Wenatchee Valley Fire."

Also on the scene are LifeLine Ambulance, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the East Wenatchee PD, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Patrol.

McKellar puts it succicntly: "The big takeaway from this is that we have an ongoing fire. If you don't need to go into the area, please just to try avoid it."

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