Morning Update- Taylor Bridge Fire Burns 28 Thousand Acres
Taylor Bridge Fire
Morning Update-
-Fire is 10 Percent Contained.
-Incident Commander say that the containment line was built around the SE Corner.
-Parts of US 97 are closed between Milepost 136 to 150/State Route 10 Closed between Cle Elum and Ellensburg.
-Two community meetings have been announced. 4pm Cle Elum/Roslyn High School Gym/7PM CWU Student Union Recreation Room
Original Story-
Governor Chris Gregoire declares a state of emergency for Kittitas and Yakima Counties.
The Taylor Bridge Fire burning near Cle Elum has consumed at least 70 homes and 40 square miles on the east slope of the Cascades.
Dean Rogers watches crews battle a fire that is threatening the homes of his neighbors, who have been evacuated.
Rogers says if those houses were to go up in flames, the fire would threaten his property, just across the field.
"With the dry grass here, if it hits any of the stuff here, it'll just go like crazy. It'll...It'll fly through here," said Rogers.
Firefighters from across the state are responding to a fire that has consumed more than 28 thousand acres of land, or 43 square miles, and burned 70 homes.
Officials say the fire is believed to have been started by a construction crew working on the Taylor Bridge just east of Cle Elum yesterday afternoon.
The fire quickly spread, heading east towards Ellensburg, and causing about 900 people to evacuate their homes.
Shelters have been set up in both Cle Elum and Ellensburg for both people and livestock affected by the fire.
Caty Finch says she had to evacuate her home yesterday, which was just a few miles from from the fire's starting point.
"It was horrifying at first. When we were in there, oh my gosh, I was just like... Ahhhh. You know, trying to get everything together, trying to get the cats, the cats aren't cooperating and I'm like panicking," said Finch.
Firefighters have set up a command post at Cle Elum Elementary, where they will be meeting with other agencies in order to coordinate an attack on the fire.
Rick Scrivens says scouting crews have been out all day monitoring the fire's behavior and the patterns it has made over the past 24 hours.
"Based off all that, going through plans, going through operations, it will go all the way up to the incident commander to decide what we wanna do and how we wanna attack this," said Scrivens.
As for Dean Rogers, he hopes crews are able to develop a plan of action before the fire consumes more homes.
"All of these people here, you know, are at jeopardy of losing their homes. And of course, I mean if they lost their homes, hopefully they have insurance. But everything they own inside is inside, it's gone," said Rogers.
Crews say winds and temperatures are expected to pick up the next few days, making conditions even more difficult for firefighters.
Crews from Washington's National Guard as well as crews from Benton County, Franklin County, and Prrosser are headed to the area to help.