200 fight fire in Colville forest

Monday, August 18, 2003

200 fight fire in Colville forest
State blaze bigger than expected; Canadians on alert

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CURLEW -- On the ground and from the air, about 200 firefighters and support staff worked yesterday to slow the advance of the Togo Mountain Fire in the Colville National Forest.

Better mapping revealed the fire was 3,000 acres and growing -- about 1,000 acres larger than fire officials had believed the day before, said Elaine Paladino, a national forest spokeswoman.

Three helicopters and three air tankers were dropping water on the fire, which was sparked by lightning and reported Friday. It was burning in heavy timber on steep terrain about 15 miles northeast of Curlew, about one-half mile from the Canadian border.

Five water tenders, five bulldozers and six engines were being used on the ground.

"No homes or structures are threatened at this point, but there's no estimated time of containment, either," Paladino said.

Canadian crews were keeping an eye on the blaze on the other side of the border in British Columbia.

They were letting fire crews take water from Christina Lake near Grand Forks, Paladino said.

A forestry helicopter used in fighting a wildfire north of Kamloops, B.C., crashed yesterday, but the pilot's fate wasn't known.

The helicopter went down about 50 miles east of 100 Mile House while fighting the Bonaparte Lake fire north of Kamloops in the British Columbia Interior.

"It had one person on board; there are firefighters and emergency staff on scene at this time," Cpl. Wayne Kennedy of Victoria search and rescue said.

As many as 500 people were forced to leave their homes east of Chase after the McGillivray Fire in the Niskonlith Lake area grew slightly Saturday night to about 3,000 acres.

Meanwhile, crews fighting Washington state's other major wildfires reported progress.

In Stevens County near Northport, the Black Canyon Fire remained about 70 percent contained at nearly 2,280 acres, said Heather Cole, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

Saturday, fire bosses said they were concerned that dry lightning in the forecast could complicate firefighting efforts.

"Actually, we were very fortunate. We didn't get any dry lightning, and the winds weren't up to what we had originally expected," Cole said. "It basically blew over us."

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and support personnel were working the fire, which was burning in rocky slopes.

In Snohomish County, east of Darrington, the largest in a complex of about two dozen fires reached 90 percent containment yesterday, fire spokeswoman Cindy White said.

The 170-acre Gold Hill Fire had not grown in days, and most of the other fires are no bigger than an acre.

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