Red Apple Fire in Chelan County, Washington prompts evacuations of more than 1,000 residences

6:49 p.m. PDT July 14, 2021

The Red Apple Fire in Chelan County, Washington north of Wenatchee has prompted evacuation orders (Leave Now) for 1,065 residences.

The homes being evacuated are in the Sunnyslope area of Wenatchee from Highway 2 and Burch Mountain Road to north of Easy Street and American Fruit Road. We are not aware of reports of any homes being destroyed.

The fire is in the wildland-urban interface where flammable vegetation is near dwellings.

It was reported at about 6:55 p.m. Tuesday near Red Apple Road outside Cashmere. The fire quickly grew overnight and was estimated to be about 4,000 acres Wednesday morning.

The blaze was aggressively attacked Tuesday evening but there was not much daylight left that would allow air tankers and helicopters to drop water or retardant.

On Wednesday afternoon a flight tracking program noted that within a one hour period multiple helicopters and six air tankers were working on the fire including a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker and two CL-415 scooping air tankers skimming water from the Columbia River.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Carl.