FIRE UPDATE: Baird Springs fire near Crescent Bar prompts evacuation
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 3 months AGO
The Baird Springs fire west of Quincy sprang up suddenly Monday afternoon, shutting down SR 28 and triggering evacuation warnings.
COURTESY PHOTO/GRANT COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT 13
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | July 11, 2023 6:12 PM
QUINCY — The Baird Springs fire north of Crescent Bar continues to blaze away, but it’s not spreading, according to Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman. He said a proactive evacuation was implemented in the area to protect residents.
“We were erring on the side of safety,” he said. “It was going to be safer for them and safer for firefighters if we could evacuate Crescent Bar. We proactively evacuated them rather than wait for conditions to worsen, since there's only one road out of Crescent Bar.”
The fire, which started Monday afternoon, had burned 2,400 acres and was 1% contained as of Tuesday morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It triggered level three evacuation notices (“Leave now”) first for the homes north of Baird Springs Road, and then for the Crescent Bar community to the south. Those notices had been downgraded to level 2 (“Be ready to leave if requested”) as of noon Tuesday, according to the GCSO. SR 28 was closed to traffic Monday afternoon and reopened at about midnight. The power was out from midnight to 6 a.m. due to damage to the electrical infrastructure, but there were no injuries or confirmed damaged structures, Foreman said.
State resources have been mobilized to fight the fire, According to a statement from Southeast Washington Incident Management Team 1, which took charge of the effort early Tuesday morning. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds were also released Tuesday morning to help pay for firefighting agencies’ costs in beating the blaze.
The fire was discovered at 3:11 p.m. Monday, according to the NIFC. Thunderstorms the previous night had ignited at least one other fire, and the winds were still blowing hard.
“The winds played a role in spreading the fire very quickly, combined with unburned sagebrush and grasses,” Foreman said. “The force of the wind carried the fire quickly and made the fire grow exponentially.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said.
These wildfires were also burning in Washington as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Interagency Fire Center:
• Tunnel 5, about four miles west of White Salmon: 529 acres. Fire discovered July 2. 85% contained.
• Consalus, about 20 miles north of Newport: 186 acres. Fire discovered June 30. 8% contained.
• McEwan, about three miles northeast of Shelton: 232 acres. Fire discovered July 4. 85% contained.
• OIE Highway, about 10 miles northeast of Prosser: 1,300 acres. Fire discovered July 3. 100% contained.
• Moran Creek, about 12 miles northwest of Chewelah: 61 acres. 95% contained.
• Hover Park, three miles southeast of Finley: 528 acres. Fire discovered June 13. 100% contained.
• Ruppert Road, about three miles north of Benton City: 155 acres. Fire discovered June 13. 100% contained.
• Oasis, about seven miles west of Touchet: 4,250 acres. Fire discovered June 19. 100% contained.
• Methow, south end of Wenatchee: 150 acres. Fire discovered June 27. Containment information not available.
• Gold Mountain Ridge, about 12 miles northeast of Keller: 28.8 acres. Fire discovered June 29. 100% contained.
• Bozy Creek, about seven miles east of Elma: 5 acres. Fire discovered July 5. Containment information not available.
• Elfendahl, about 16 miles southwest of Bremerton: 1.5 acres. Fire discovered July 9. Containment information not available.
• Laurel Street, Shelton: 3 acres. Fire discovered July 8. Containment information not available.
• Anderson Road, about seven miles southeast of Morton: 1 acre. Fire discovered July 10. Containment information not available.
• Farnham, about 13 miles west of Mansfield: 76 acres. Fore discovered July 8. Containment information not available.
• Coyote Creek, about 17 miles northwest of Grand Coulee: 1,555 acres. Prescribed burn.
• Pingston, about three miles north of Kettle Falls: 27.5 acres. Fire discovered July 8. Containment information not available.
• Miller Ranch, about six miles northeast of Sprague: 9.8 acres. Fire discovered July 8. Containment information not available.
• Canal Road, about 3 miles north of Naches: 1.5 acres. Fire discovered July 11. Containment information not available.
• Grayback, about 16 miles northwest of Goldendale: 3.5 acres. Fire discovered July 11. Containment information not available.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake author’s book, “A Christian Woman Striving to Live Her Faith in a Man-Controlled World,” takes aim at the role to which many churches relegate the female half of their congregations. “It’s to encourage women in the faith,” Linda Curran said. “A lot of churches say, ‘Teach Sunday school, do this, do that, but don’t (evangelize.)’" In her book, Curran recounts a time when she moved to a new community and joined a church there. She was surprised to learn that, as a new female member, she had been automatically assigned church cleaning duties. When she questioned it, she wrote, she was met with condescension and her objections were brushed aside. In other churches, she said, women who were capable of teaching were relegated to “women’s ministry.”