PROSSER, Wash. -- Local firefighters managed to save about a dozen homes that were threatened by a brush fire in Prosser last night before reinforcements arrived, a fire spokesman said.
Only a barn was lost as the South Ward Gap fire burned somewhere between 6,000 to 8,000 acres on Sunday, said Marcus Deyerin with the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team on Monday morning.
“For 12 individuals, they did a really remarkable job... I saw at least a dozen homes where the fire had burned all the way up to the foundation and that none of those homes were lost is really remarkable,” Deyerin said.
About 75 firefighters from around the state are doing containment and clean-up work today, replacing the local firefighters who worked to save the homes on Sunday.
“We’re pretty lucky today that it’s at the low end of the actively burning spectrum and we’re focused on taking advantage of the low winds and lower temperatures to get ahead of it,” Deyerin said.
Firefighters will be working on hot spots and securing the perimeter today to minimize the risk of flare ups tomorrow when winds are forecast to pick up again, he said.
The cause of the fire, which started along South Ward Gap Road near the top of the ridge south of Prosser, remains unknown. Evacuation orders for about 50 homes were lifted first thing Monday morning.
Firefighters also worked through the night to build containment lines along the east side of a 70,000 acre fire burning east of Moxee.
"We've got well over 100 firefighters and more resources are on order so it's going to go up today," said fire spokesman Randall Rishe. "Our goals are to keep it west of (State Route) 240 and North of (Interstate) 82."
There is no containment estimate this morning, he said, but firefighters have built lines along the east side of SR 240.
Known as the Range 12 fire, the blaze started on the U.S. Army's Yakima Training Center on Saturday. Gusty winds drove it rapidly to the southeast across desert grassland and it jumped S.R. 24 and S.R. 241 on Sunday.
The cause of the fire remains unclear. No homes have been damaged but one structure was reportedly destroyed.
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