MOSES LAKE – Monday evening, around 5 p.m., the Moses Lake Fire Department was dispatched to a brush fire near State Route 17 and North Stratford Road.  

“We came in at five o'clock, and we responded with a battalion chief, a fire engine, three brush trucks, two medic units, and we called for mutual aid from Grant County Fire District 5,” MLFD Interim Fire Administrator Mike Ganz said. “They sent us a tender and a brush truck.” 

The fire was around an acre large when MLFD arrived, Ganz said. However, due to the winds, it grew to around five acres of land.  

Crews left the scene at around 10 p.m. Monday after containing the fire and completing mop-up. There were no injuries or structures threatened, Ganz said.  

“A real conservative estimate is that they used probably about 30,000 gallons of water to get it out,” Ganz said.  

Ganz said the cause of the fire is unknown at this time and it is unlikely an investigation will be pursued because of a lack of leads. 

“It's my understanding that that's in the area where the fire started. That's just a really tough one,” Ganz said. “So, it's just a cause unknown at this time. I mean if someone had seen something that was suspicious, then we probably would go to that next level. But at this point, it's just an unknown source, and it could be anything from a spark from the railroad tracks or the road, or somebody that  was in that area, but without any more information, we're just going with an unknown source.”  

Ganz said this blaze marked the beginning of their busy season. 

“This will be a busy season,” Ganz said. “As the weather gets hotter and fuel starts to dry out, we have a lot of grass areas and brush areas, and so we're very active in the summer with brush fires within the city limits, as well as giving mutual aid outside into the county.”  

He said he feels confident going into the upcoming fire season, though. 

“We've just spent the last month training all our folks to the red card level, which is their updates on all their brush fire, wildland fire training,” Ganz said. “We're anticipating that this is the season that it gets really active, and so we've done our planning, and we're prepared for it. This is a perfect example of the kind of response that we can give when a fire like this occurs in the city.”  

Ganz said he wants to remind people to be mindful of fire with the upcoming Grant County burn ban about to go into effect. He said that although the county is placing its burn ban, it is not legal to burn within Moses Lake city limits, year-round.  

“Open burning in the city is not allowed, whereas in the county, it is, but then they restrict it during the summer months,” Ganz said. “Just tell people to not start any fires and we should be good.”