YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) -- Fireworks are already posing problems for firefighters in Yakima County.
Fire crews on Wednesday first contained two brush fires that broke out within a quarter-mile of each other off South Naches Heights Road a day earlier. Then they battled and contained four new fires that started Wednesday afternoon on the same stretch of road, just west of Tuesday's fires.
All were believed to have been started by fireworks, which are illegal in Yakima County, said Dave Thompson, chief criminal deputy for the county.
''This is criminally foolish behavior,'' Thompson said. ''This has created a huge financial burden, not only on fire resources, but also on sheriff's officers.''
A 29-year-old man, who lives nearby, was stopped at a traffic stop and was found to have fireworks in his car. Thompson said the man, whose name was not released, was arrested for violating the county ordinance, but Thompson said it was too soon to say if the man was responsible for the fires.
Approximately 1,000 acres of sagebrush burned in the four new fires Wednesday, said Jim Kohl of Yakima County Fire District 6.
They burned about three miles east of the town of Naches.
No injuries were reported. Several homes were threatened and perhaps 15 people were briefly evacuated while firefighters got the upper hand, then the residents were allowed to return home, Kohl said.
The two fires that broke out Tuesday burned together and briefly threatened homes, but crews had the blaze contained at about 100 acres by Wednesday morning.
The Yakima County fires were just the latest reported recently in Eastern Washington. The largest blackened about 25,000 acres of grass and wheat fields in northern Walla Walla County, near the town of Clyde. It was contained Monday.
