Sumner Grade Fire grows to 800 acres, destroys 4 homes, forces hundreds to evacuate
An 800-acre wildfire near Bonney Lake and Sumner prompted hundreds to evacuate overnight Tuesday and destroyed four houses.
The Sumner Grade Fire was 20 percent contained Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said.
A “Level 3” evacuation alert remained in place for areas south and west of state Route 410 all the way to Angeline Road and Rhodes Lake Road to McCutcheon in Pierce County.
Although the area includes thousands of homes, only 500 or so are believed to have been evacuated.
A temporary overnight shelter was set up at the Bonney Lake Senior Center, 19304 Bonney Lake Blvd. E.
East Pierce Fire Chief Bud Backer estimated there are 100 firefighters working to put out the brush fire, including workers from the state.
“They’re tired but still working hard,” Backer said. “They’re still giving it their all.”
He said the number of personnel working the Sumner Grade fire since it started Monday night isn’t even half of what he believes they need, but resources are sparse as wildfires across the state continue to grow.
The fire on Tuesday destroyed four homes. Two of them were on Myers Road where the blaze started, the other two were in the Sumner View development.
Although the brush fire lost intensity once the sun went down Tuesday, fire officials were concerned about what might happen when temperatures rise Wednesday and Thursday.
“Our concern is when it hits 90 degrees plus, it might want to make another run,” Backer said.
The Sumner/Bonney Lake School District canceled classes for Wednesday.
“With continued power outages, active fires, forecasts for gusty winds & hot/dry temps & increasing evacuations, we are canceling school for Wed. Sept. 9,” the district tweeted.
Meal service, Kinder Connections and child care also was being canceled, the district said.
Although an investigation has not yet been done into the cause of the fire, Backer said he believes a transformer blew during Monday’s windstorm.
“I think they’re doing an outstanding job out there,” Roger Knutson, who lived and worked on his family’s Sumner farm for 76 years, told KIRO-TV. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
An evacuation phone line for Pierce County has been set up to answer questions at 253-798-1571.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 7:07 AM.
