The blaze started Sunday outside Wenatchee, about 150 miles east of Seattle, and had grown dramatically by the end of the day after embers blew on top of a recycling plant and several warehouses that contained chemicals, officials said. As of Tuesday evening, the blaze was 47% contained.
The damage to at least two dozen buildings has left residents heartbroken, even if their own homes had been spared.
"It's a mix of emotions -- blessed and guilty," said Desiree Schmidt, seated under a tent near a home that had burned to the ground. "I can go to my refrigerator and shower. We have 28 friends and neighbors who can't."
It's not clear how the fire started
Kay Mckellar, a spokeswoman for the Chelan County Fire District, said investigators had yet to determine a cause. There were no lightning strikes outside Wenatchee when the fire started Sunday. Fire officials have yet to determine whether the blaze was started by a person or a natural occurrence.
Forest Service firefighters from Leavenworth watch as a house burns in northern Wenatchee, Wash. (Associated Press)
The first fire started a second, more intense fire
The initial blaze, which began outside the town of Monitor, Wash., created a second and more powerful fire when embers blew onto the roof of a recycling plant in Wenatchee, Mckellar said. The fire quickly spread to a pair of nearby fruit-packing warehouses and another building that housed a large amount of paper, Mckellar said.The fruit-packing warehouses contained drums of ammonia, according to Mckellar, who said the fire quickly gained intensity Sunday.
"It all just went boom, boom, boom," she said.
Damages and evacuations: 24 buildings, dozens evacuate
The fire has destroyed or damaged at least two dozen residences in Wenatchee, plus several industrial structures. The damage to the warehouses also caused an ammonia leak on Monday, prompting city officials to issue a shelter-in-place order while the chemical spill was contained, Mckellar said.No one had been hurt as of Tuesday morning, Mckellar said. At least 1,000 people who live near the fire had been ordered to evacuate the area. Not all of them complied, but 155 people had checked into a nearby Red Cross shelter on Sunday night, according to the incident website for the fire.
Some Wenatchee residents lost everything
A statue of St. Francis is nearly all that remains outside the wreckage
of Cindy Dominguez's home in Wenatchee, Wash. (Maria L. La Ganga / Los
Angeles Times)
A charred swing stood where a porch used to be. The house burned down around the metal box that formed Dominguez's fireplace. It remains, scorched and lonely in the rubble.
"It's devastating and heartbreaking all at once," Dominguez said as she sipped a bottle of water and surveyed the damage. "I have to find my wedding ring. I had it in a drawer. I should have had it in the fire lockbox. It was the only thing that would withstand the fire, and we took it with us. Duh."
Conditions continue to favor the fire
Firefighters reported just 10% containment of the blaze by Tuesday morning, though Mckellar said that number would likely grow as investigators got closer to the perimeter of the blaze where they could do a more thorough assessment.Strong winds from the west and high temperatures helped drive the fire Sunday, and forecasts indicate the mercury could stay above triple digits for the rest of the week. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures around Wenatchee could reach a high of 98 degrees Tuesday and will hover between 99 and 103 degrees the rest of the week.
Despite the troublesome weather, Wenatchee's 31,000 residents were "no longer in imminent danger" on Tuesday afternoon, according to Joe Anderson, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. He said the fire was unlikely to advance any further.
Source:latimes.com