WENATCHEE, Wash. -- Fire lines held tight through winds that gusted to 35 mph on Tuesday, giving fire officials confidence that the wildfire danger has nearly passed.
"The big test was the red-flag (wind) warning for the last two days," said fire spokesman Brad Pitassi. "With the minimal growth that we saw on the fires and the fact that they stayed within containment features after going through a pretty significant test, it makes everyone comfortable."
"Firefighters did an outstanding job holding lines for us," he added.
National fire teams have been overseeing the complex of fires burning in Chelan County for the past month. It is expected to transition back to a regional management team by the weekend.
Fire crews are expected to continue doing burnouts below Mission Peak, south of Wenatchee, today to build the final lines around the Peavine Fire. That fire grew a little in an area behind Mission Ridge during the winds on Tuesday.
Residents should expect to see more smoke coming from the fire today if the burnout is done.
There may also be more active burning within the fire lines this afternoon when the inversion lifts, Pitassi said.
Meanwhile, mopup and rehabilitation continues on several other fires in the county.
A handful of blazes in wilderness areas near Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee and in the Entiat Valley continue to grow but are not causing concerns for firefighters, he said.
Crews are getting more grief from cold temperatures than from the fires. Pitassi said some fire hoses laid to protect structures froze, and firefighters camping out in Wenatchee and Fish Lake were pretty cold as the thermometer dipped into the 30s.
"It was about 70 degrees cooler last night than those of us from the Southwest are used to," said Pitassi, whose fire management team is primarly from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Copyright 2012 - The Wenatchee World, Wash.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
