Chelan Butte blackened in wind driven grass and sage brush fire

Chelan Butte grass and sage brush fire, June 7, taken from the air. Cloud shadow visible from the top of the Butte. Photo courtesy: Chris Millsap.

Within hours of the first report, a grass and sage brush fire on the Chelan Butte, was picked up by an afternoon wind Saturday and grew toward Chelan Falls burning an estimated 1,508 acres.

Chelan firefighters and mutual aid responders acted quickly to the first reports of smoke.

"We couldn't see the smoke," said Chelan Fire and Rescue Chief Brandon Asher on Sunday. "But, one of the cameras that are on top of Chelan Butte was able to look right down on the fire. We at least got a guarantee that we knew we had a fire. A pretty sketchy two lane roads, on the backside there that we had to get out fire apparatus up. Unfortunately, then the heat of the day hit and those winds hit, just due to the terrain and it got away."

"Wind makes a huge difference in how fast the fire's gonna spread," said Asher, when KOZI caught up with him by phone while enroute to the incident command post. "Eventually the wind was pushing it down toward the Chelan Falls area, (which for a time on Saturday was under a Level 2 evacuation advisory) but we had structure protection in place."

"We saw how fast that fire moved just with wind," the chief added. "The grass isn't completely cured and dried out yet. If you look at the Butte, it's still pretty green from the Chelan side, so there's a lot of drying out to do. There's a lot of fuel and the fires seem to be popping up more frequently, as we start this summer, than last year, so we're just hoping' we can get on them as fast as we can."

With as many as a half dozen aircraft scooping up water from Lake Chelan and assisting firefighters on the ground,.

"The airshow was pretty impressive and really made a difference on that fire," Asher said.

"There was no lightening in the area and no power lines in that area, so the expectation is that it's human caused," Asher speculated, emphasizing that that fire investigators with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources will make a definitive determination as to a cause for the fire.

Chelan Butte fire, June 7. Photo courtesy: Tim Schiffleger.