MATTAWA — A fast‑moving wildfire that burned nearly 3,100 acres near state Route 24 on Sunday night prompted a four‑hour highway closure – but no public alerts from either the Washington State Patrol or the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, despite both agencies’ long‑standing practices of issuing emergency notifications.

Both agencies now say internal communication breakdowns prevented timely alerts from reaching the public, leaving residents without the Nixle messages, Facebook posts or X updates they typically rely on during major incidents.

Fire update

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Nike Fire started at about 300 acres and quickly grew to around 3,100 acres. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the blaze was 40% contained. There are currently six engines at the scene working on the human-caused blaze. The estimated cost of the fire is around $40,000.

Highway closed, but no alerts issued

WSP released only a brief press memo at 8:30 p.m. stating a large brush fire was burning near SR 24. A trooper arrived at 10:30 p.m. and officially closed the highway, which reopened at 1 a.m., according to WSP Trooper Jeremy Weber.

Weber said troopers shut the road down because smoke and fire activity created unsafe driving conditions.

“Anytime a fire gets near the highway, we’re going to shut the road down … If they felt like it was too dangerous, they’re going to shut it down,” Weber said.

But no alert went out on WSP’s X account, the agency’s standard method for notifying the media and the public of highway closures.

Weber said he never received the dispatch call that should have triggered a public post.

“That call should have come to me, and I should have put it out on X as soon as I got it, but I never got a notification until the next morning,” he said.

GCSO: ‘We dropped the ball’

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office also issued no alerts, despite typically posting quickly to Facebook and Nixle during wildfires.

Undersheriff Gary Mansford said the breakdown began when the deputy assigned to the southern Grant County area was tied up on another incident. By the time she was able to respond, WSP no longer needed assistance with road closures – and no one followed up on the fire itself.

“The deputy did not respond to the fire and we dropped the ball,” Mansford said. “Nobody followed up with finding out what else was going on and then passing the word to our emergency management staff.”

Emergency management personnel, he said, were “caught completely off guard.”

Mansford emphasized the lapse was not intentional.

“Nothing was intentional, just missed the mark on this one,” he said. “But we will get it on the next one.”

How the notification system works

Both agencies described well‑established processes that typically ensure quick public alerts.

Under normal circumstances at GCSO, a deputy or supervisor notifies command staff – lieutenants, a chief deputy – when a significant incident occurs. Command staff then relay the information to emergency management. Then, emergency management issues Nixle alerts and Facebook posts to notify the public.

Mansford said the system “generally always goes just fine,” but Sunday’s incident exposed gaps when staff are busy, new or transitioning between roles.

“We need to have a constant reminder because we do have staff turnover … It’s an ongoing thing,” he said.

WSP relies on state patrol dispatch to notify the district public information officer, who then posts updates to X. Weber said the system usually works smoothly, but dispatchers rotate and handle notifications differently.

“It’s a machine that has a lot of parts … just making sure those parts are working correctly,” Weber said.

Preventing future lapses

Both WSP and GCSO say they are already taking corrective action.

At the sheriff’s office, Mansford said supervisors and patrol staff will undergo renewed training on emergency notification procedures.

“We are going to work to reeducate our patrol staff and supervisors … It will need to be an ongoing reminder going forward,” he said.

The sheriff’s office will also reinforce expectations for notifying emergency management during off-hours.

“Kyle (Foreman) and the rest of our emergency management staff do a fantastic job during normal work hours of just kind of watching the calls for service, listening and getting stuff up,” Mansfield said. “However, during off-duty time we have a duty officer that carries around the phone for things just like this, and it’s the responsibility and the expectation of our patrol staff to notify them. We need to make that clearer going forward.”

Weber said he has already contacted his chain of command to address the missed notification.

“My chain of command will reach out to the dispatch centers and explain how important this is,” he said.

How residents can stay informed

Both agencies encouraged residents to use official channels for emergency alerts.

GCSO recommends subscribing to Nixle by texting GCSHERIFF to 888777.

“Our main purpose of issuing emergency public information remains the safety of every member of this community,” GCSO PIO Kyle Foreman said.

WSP continues to use X for road closure notifications.