Calm winds help crews battle wildfires near White Salmon
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WHITE SALMON, Wash. – Two wildfires burning five miles north of here lit up the sky Wednesday night forcing the evacuation of dozens of homes and threatening hundreds of others.
Thursday morning, forest service officials added more homes along Indian Creek Road in White Salmon to an evacuation alert list, which does not mandate an evacuation.
Fire officials say the flames have charred about 1,570 acres and are burning out of control in grass, timber and brush in steep terrain. State Highway 141 was closed.
Firefighters first got word of four separate fires burning around 1:40 p.m. Two fires were quickly extinguished, but two others quickly grew, according to Debbie Robinson with the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Fire officials ordered the evacuation of 30 homes and put residents in at least 400 others on alert, telling them they may need to be evacuated on short notice. However, schools in White Salmon were in session without any closures or delays Thursday morning, district officials said.
Firefighters attacked the fires from the air and from the ground on Wednesday. A plane roared overhead, dropping fire retardant, and two helicopters thundered through the clear sky above the choking smoke, targeting the flames with water drops. Below, three 20-person crews battled the flames on the ground with 27 engines and six bulldozers.
At 6:30 p.m. the Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the use of state resources at the request of Klickitat County Fire District No. 3. That sent additional crews and equipment to the fight the fire.
On Wednesday, Christie Gensler watched the fire creep toward her backdoor as it came within 150 feet of her home.
"It was actually on my property, and it was really time to leave," she said. "The firefighters saved it. The helicopter came in and took water out of the pond – actually put the fire out that was on the property."
Josh Billette and his family disregarded the initial order to leave his home, preferring instead to stand guard. Billette said if the fire gets too close he'd probably send his family away and do what he could to save his house.
While the dry grass and timber made for easy fuel, firefighters were aided by the lack of wind, leaving people like Gensler optimistic.
"Hopefully, by morning I can go home, but we'll have to wait and see," she said, adding that she will head toward town to sleep in her horse trailer overnight. Other evacuees were invited to sleep at the local fire hall.
So far no homes have been damaged and no injuries have been reported.
The fires are burning along the highway between White Salmon and Husum, Wash.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
I hope and pray this fire is out soon and everyone is safe.
From Mary Woods
We live in the small community of Timber Valley about 15 to 20 miles northeast of White Salmon. I was standing on my front porch and could smell the smoke from these fires. The really scary part about these fires is the fact that there are a lot of small communities scattered in this area. We do appreciate any updates. I does seem as though the wind up here has died down, I hope it has died down in that area.Â
Josh Billette is my son in law and my daughter and grandbabies are his family. Â I'm in Seattle and worried about them. Â We just moved back to the city from Trout Lake, so we know how unpredictable the winds and country area can be. Â My prayers to all, especially my kids there.
This must be why we have smoke in PDX
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"The cause of the fire is still unknown."
It always a cigarette.
 @iamright555 rumor has it to be a large truck with bad brakes?????
 @iamright555 It's NOT always a cigarette, especially from the people of that area that have respect for the dry lands and dangers of fire.  It could have been as easy as metal from a vehicle, rubbing on the ground and creating sparks.  That's all it takes in that area, during this dry season.  I lived there almost 11 years.
That cloud looks suggestive.
Wow, there is ever hardly a fire that big in white salmon. I hope that the elementary school does not get effected
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What an awesome picture. Great work.
 @paulelijah Thanks Paul :)
Prayers to the firefighters, and those evacuated today - hope everyone gets to back to their homes soon! Kudos, and many thanks to those who fight these fires, I for one truly appreciate your efforts, and the hard work you put in when these things start!
Hey KATU, White Salmon is in Washington not Oregon!Â
Does anyone know how much of Snowden Rd. they are evacuating. My niece and nephew have already left the lower Acme Rd. area, but I am curious which areas are in danger.
 @Jacob My brother updated me at 8:40pm saying that it had "made it over the ridge and was approaching snowden road at the straight stretch where the cows are." and that  "Those people had been evacuated."
 @Jacob Not sure but I think most of the lower part
this is the first thing I saw when I clicked on the article to read and I quote:
"WHITE SALMON, Ore. â Several wildfires burning near White Salmon on Wednesday afternoon threatened about 20-30 homes. Flames came within yards of at least one building"Â
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There is something wrong with the first part of this sentence. Can you figure it out? If not I will give you a hint White Salmon is not in Oregon.
 @Angela Schultze They do that quite frequently. And since we're in error correction mode, I feel free to point out that you were correcting the dateline, which is NOT part of a sentence; instead, it comes before the first sentence in a news article, and rarely includes the date these days, just the location.
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 @Angela Schultze I'm in the right state - Just saying...
and I think that the people of White Salmon should be in the right state
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It went from nothing to a lot of smoke really fast. Am curious what started the fire - the initial smoke was not white, it was fairly dark gray to black, and looked closer to a residential fire than a wildland fire, at least from a distance. Hearing choppers from Underwood. We're missing Northwestern Lake (that was drained) right now - it would have been far closer to dip chopper buckets there than the Columbia.
 @starshadow There is a rumor that it might have been a large truck with bad brakes.
 @starshadow Amen to the "Northwestern Lake" comment.  Don't even get me started on the rape they did,to the area, by draining that lake.  Sure could have used the water now!
@starshadow from what we saw from down on the river choppers werent getting buckets from the columbia..they were coming in from the north east with buckets
 @LadyDW  @starshadow one of the helicopters was dipping water out of an irrigation pond for vineyards near Wnuk Road - good coordination between the ground and air crews there! Sure do miss Northwestern Lake!!
 @starshadow Best of luck to the community and to the people fighting the fire.