Two wildfires are burning in central Washington.
Cow Canyon Fire
The Cow Canyon Fire eight miles southwest of Ellensburg spread rapidly after it was reported Wednesday August 3 at 2:45 p.m. It is spreading through brush, grass, and timber and has grown to approximately 1,500 acres.
Water-scooping air tankers are using Wenas Lake to refill. Recreational boaters are being warned to be aware of aircraft operations and to keep a safe distance. At least three large air tankers were also used on the fire Wednesday, reloading at the airport at Moses Lake, Washington, including a 737, BAe-146, and a DC-10.
Evacuations orders are affecting about 50 homes for a 1.5 mile radius from the intersection of Malloy Road and North Wenas Road. Yakima County Emergency Management has more information. An emergency shelter has been established at the Selah Civic Center. Anyone displaced by the fire can call the American Red Cross at 509-457-1690.
Spectacular smoke plume from the #CowCanyonFire southwest of Ellensburg, as captured by GOES-West satellite before sundown tonight. More on the fires burning east of the Cascades on @KIRO7Seattle at 11 and tomorrow at 4:30 am. #wawx #wafire pic.twitter.com/tvk1kb5J3H
— Morgan Palmer (@MorganKIRO7) August 4, 2022
Vantage Highway Fire
The Vantage Highway Fire 17 miles east of Ellensburg has burned 26,490 acres of brush north of the Vantage Highway since it started August 1. Most of the spread on Wednesday was on the northwest side.
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center reports that one residence and one outbuilding have been destroyed.
The Vantage Highway will remain closed until at least 3:00 p.m. Thursday, at which point the Southeast Washington Type 3 Incident Management Team, Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office, and Kittitas County PUD will assess if it is ready to open. The highway is closed from Parke Creek Road through Recreation Drive except for local traffic. There are no evacuation orders in effect for the Vantage Highway Fire.
Weather
The weather forecast for the Cow Canyon Fire on Thursday predicts mostly sunny skies, 79 degrees, 30 percent relative humidity, and 15 to 20 mph afternoon winds gusting to 35 mph.
I live west of Ellensburg between these two fires. I knew there was a new fire yesterday afternoon when a Chinook working on the vantage Fire flew over my house with a bucket. I couldn’t see any smoke the direction he was headed but about 5 minutes later Cow canyon blew and put up a good column.
Cow canyon started and is burning in the footprint of the 76,000 acre Evans Canyon fire from two years ago. Ellensburg is right in middle of the venturi of the gap wind that blows through Snoqualmie Pass. That wind hits the vantage fire hard. The ground down wind from Cow canyon and all of the vantage fire is Shrub Steppe.