Bonney Lake and Graham fire updates: Arson not suspected; 410 closed through weekend
Fire, police, city and transportation officials held a briefing Friday afternoon on the Sumner Grade and Graham 244th Command fires.
Both fires have halted their spread.
“The weather’s in our favor,” said East Pierce Fire & Rescue Chief Bud Backer. Winds are light and humidity has increased.
“We hope to get plenty of rain on Monday,” he said.
Here are highlights from the press briefing:
Route 410 closed through weekend
There’s still a lot of work to do before state Route 410 can be opened, said Troy Cowan, assistant region administrator for the state Department of Transportation.
“We’ve got about 120-plus guardrail posts that are no longer serving the purpose that they were designed for,” Cowan said.
In addition to replacing and repairing those, trees burned in the fire but still standing need to be felled, he said.
WSDOT crews also will examine and monitor the stability of the slope along Route 410, Cowan said.
Cowan urged motorists not to ignore road closures. Roadblocks are staffed 24 hours a day.
Arson not suspected in Bonney Lake, Graham fires
The Sumner Grade Fire was most likely started by a blown transformer, Backer said.
The 244th Command Fire began when winds felled a tree that then hit power lines, Graham Fire & Rescue Chief Pat Dale said. That sparked a brush fire below.
Arson is suspected in another fire that broke out on state Route 167 Thursday while Gov. Jay Inslee was touring the Sumner Fire.
Bonney Lake evacuation orders changing
Evacuation orders will be updated at 6 p.m., Backer said. Check East Pierce’s and Bonney Lake’s social media accounts for details.
Here are the new evacuation orders, according to Backer:
The northern area of Sumner Tapps Ridge West evacuation zone will be downgraded to Level 1. The Elhi Rim and 181st Avenue area accessed off Route 410 evacuation zone will be downgraded to Level 2. Sky Island will be downgraded to Level 1. The Angeline Road evacuation area will be lifted completely. All other areas remain unchanged.
Sumner Grade Fire still burning
Crews will spend the next several days working the perimeter of the 800-acre fire, creating a 50-foot-wide dead zone. Near homes, that zone will increase to 100 feet, Backer said.
The goal is to completely extinguish the fire in those zones.
The fire is 20% contained, he said.
The center of the fire will continue to burn until more hand crews can be brought in to extinguish it. Resources are spread thin up and down the West Coast.
Normally, wildfire crews would be brought in to fight fires like this week’s. Instead, local departments have had to rely on their own crews while responding to the usual number of medical and fire calls, Backer said.
244th Command Fire mostly contained
The fire, which began Monday evening around 10 p.m., was about 80% contained Friday, Dale said. It has burned about 275 acres.
“We have numerous fire personnel on scene from state mobilization that are doing overhaul, making sure the fire is completely out,” Dale said.
Five homes and 10 outbuilding were lost.
All evacuation orders have been lifted.
The fire “quickly outpaced the Graham Fire & Rescue fire resources,” Dale said. Fire crews and law enforcement quickly evacuated about 100 homes. There were no injuries.
Keeping a defensible space
All of the homes burned in the Sumner Grade Fire were in developments, Backer said. Still, city residents can improve the chances of their home’s survival by clearing out dead vegetation, not using wood shakes as roofing materials and other practices.
He urged residents to consult firewise.org and the state Department of Natural Resources for more tips. Homes that border wild areas must have buffer zones, he said.
“When we build homes on the edge of ridges and we build them to take advantage of the views quite often ... they’re not able to provide that buffer zone beneath them,” Backer said. “And so the fire can come running up the hill real quick.”
The Graham fire occurred in a more rural setting, Dale said.
“We had one home that was virtually untouched,” Dale said. “And it was literally burned 360 degrees around that structure.”
The home, Dale said, had a defensible space around it.
“To me, it moves it from the diagrams and the theories that we have into reality of what defensible space will do for you,” he said.
