By Shannon Dininny
The Associated Press
CLE ELUM, Wash. — Calmer winds gave Washington state firefighters hope of containing a blaze that left dozens of families homeless.
About 800 people were assigned to fight the Taylor Bridge fire located near Cle Elum, about 75 miles east of Seattle. Better weather conditions made fire managers optimistic.
“We should have a good day,” incident commander Rex Reed said early today.
Swirling wind vexed firefighters much of Tuesday.
“Chaotic,” Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said. “It was one of those things you never felt like you were in control, because things kept changing with the wind.”
Brad Rorem and his two sons saw the fire under a bridge construction site, where it started, just down the hill from their cabin near Cle Elum. They fled when it ran in their direction.
“It just shot up so fast,” he said, adding later: “We feel really fortunate to have gotten off the mountain in time.”
Hours later and several miles to the east, Miriam Greenman left her home with her 6-year-old son, Nathaniel, a handful of clothes and some of his favorite toys to comfort him. Their fish stayed behind.
“I feel bad about the fish, but I figured he was in water and he’d have to tough it out,” she said.
By Tuesday evening, their homes had survived the blaze, but many neighbors weren’t so lucky. About 70 homes and hundreds of outbuildings had burned, state and local officials said.
No injuries have been reported, but the fire danger is extreme due to wind, heat and dry conditions.
Desperate neighbors tried to cut out containment lines with hand tools to help protect property threatened by the fast-moving fire, while others loaded up horse trailers to help evacuate livestock to the county fairgrounds.
Firefighters today focused on preventing the fire from threatening a housing development near Cle Elum and moving into a stand of timber.
The fire that broke out Monday at a bridge construction site is about 10 percent contained. At least 400 homes with an estimated 900 people have been evacuated.