Sheriff: Chelan Hills Fire claims a life, causes millions in home and property loss

Chelan Hills, McNeil Canyon Fire scars more than 9,400 acres, July 4. Photo courtesy: Chelan Rams Landscaping.

UPDATE: The Chelan Hills Fire has claimed a life.

Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies looking into a report of a missing person during the evacuations of the Chelan Hills Fire located a vehicle that had slid off a road.

Sheriff Tyler Caille said Monday morning that the vehicle was consumed by fire, and human remains were found inside.

The county coroner is working on identifying the remains.

The sheriff says deputies will continue to work with firefighters to check for any additional residents who were unable to safely evacuate.

It’s described as the worst in Douglas County history, in terms of the number of homes and structures estimated to be lost from the Chelan Hills Fire.

"I could see the column of smoke, the plume, to the south of McNeil Canyon," described Douglas County Sheriff Tyler Caille when he first arrived on the scene on Saturday. "(The fire) was obviously being pushed to the north by the wind. W And when I saw that plume coming down, my heart basically sunk. In knew what we were facing. It had the potential, it had the opportunity with the wind and the fuel to make that drive down, which unfortunately it did eventually."

Caille says firefighters believe 75% of the structures, homes, farm and backyard buildings, within the footprint of the estimated 9,400-acre fire were destroyed.

The Sheriff took a tour of the fire perimeter on Sunday with Douglas County Commissioner Marc Straub.

"It's definitely double- digits, if not triple-digits," said Caille when asked to estimated the number of homes, farm and backyard buildings lost to the fire. "With the number of homes and the types of homes, and the vehicles and personal property, it's definitely into the millions."

Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies issued over 200 evacuation notices.

"Unfortunately there's a lot of homes in that area that are one-way in one-way out," said the sheriff in his words-eye picture of what residents faced. "The last thing you want to do is have somebody get trapped in those situations and not be able to get out."

Caille says one firefighter was transported for medical aid due to heat exhaustion and two more for smoke inhalation. He added that two Washington State Department of Natural resources trucks, and fire trucks were damaged while in the fire fight.

"It is believed to be man caused," Caille concluded. "And it looks like it's stemming back to some fireworks related incident that happened along Highway 97. Douglas County Sheriff's investigators are working in cooperation with DNR (Washington State Department of Natural Resources) fire investigators to help put the pieces together and try and determine who is responsible for this."

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For the second time in a week, grass and brush burned Saturday night and into yesterday along Navarre-Coulee Road. About 300 acres were singed this time along a four mile stretch of the road, from highway 97-A, westward.

A fire June 27 in the same vicinity burned about 120 acres.

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Another area prone to wildfire in the past was damaged Sunday morning with a brush fire in Number Two Canyon, west of Wenatchee.