FIRE REPORT: 2 fires hit Grant Co. Monday
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months AGO
A brush fire grew to about 100 acres Monday along SR 243 near Wanapum Village.
COURTESY PHOTO/GRANT COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
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. | May 14, 2024 2:00 AM
COLUMBIA BASIN — The warm weather has arrived and with it the fire season, as Grant County faced two wildfires Monday.
At about 1 p.m. a report came in of a blaze about a mile south of Wanapum Village in southwestern Grant County, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. The fire grew to 100 acres and caused State Route 243 to close briefly due to smoke across the roadway before it was knocked down, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fire was human-caused, the NIFC wrote.
About two hours after the Wanapum Fire was reported, a controlled burn turned out not to be quite as controlled as it should have been and burned into some orchard debris piles at Road B and Road 19 Northwest, according to the GCSO. Crews from Grant County fire districts 7 and 13 responded and put the fire out. No structures were lost or damaged, the GCSO wrote.
On Friday, Grant County Fire District 13 put out a vehicle fire that had spread to the surrounding brush near State Route 28 and Neva Lake Road south of Ephrata, according to a statement by the fire district.
Some fires burning Monday around Washington were prescribed burns in the Colville National Forest and on the Colville and Spokane reservations.
However, the human-caused Harlan Landing Fire between Yakima and Selah was at 100 acres Thursday, the most recent day for which the NIFC had updated data. The Naches Canal fire about 14 miles northwest of Yakima was reported a little after 3:30 Monday afternoon at about 1 acre and was in the mopping-up phase by about 4:45. In Benton County, the Gibbon Road fire, discovered Saturday about midway between Prosser and Benton City, had reached 30 acres by 3 p.m. that afternoon, according to the NIFC. The cause was given as human.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
New homes, new lives
Looking back at pet adoptions in 2025
MOSES LAKE — 2025 turned out to be a good year for some pets, and some humans as well. Here are a few of the critters that found forever homes at local shelters this year.
Home team
Hayden Homes employees collect more than a ton of food for local food banks
MOSES LAKE — Hayden Homes, and its partner company Simplicity by Hayden Homes, went a step beyond their mission of affordable housing this month, with donations to organizations across the Northwest fighting food insecurity. Especially at this time of the year, it becomes more in the spotlight to think about families out there that are struggling,” said Rees Wasney, regional vice president of Hayden Homes in the Tri-Cities. “It’s a tough time.” Hayden Homes chipped in $66,000 to 15 nonprofits across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Western Montana, according to an announcement from the company. In addition, the Hayden team amassed more than 2,500 pounds of non-perishable food for local food banks.
Nazarene Church toy swap brings needed Christmas joy
WARDEN — The Moses Lake Nazarene Church’s toy swap was scheduled for two hours Sunday afternoon, but it didn’t last nearly that long. “People were lined up from one o’clock on,” said Kaleigh Sullivan, who organized the event.