Fire in Lyle
UPDATED 7/14/21
The Lyle Hill Fire has grown to 300 acres and was at 10% containment as of yesterday. The fire is not growing very rapidly in size. However it is burning into several draws with deep pockets of fuel including some old growth oak.
Resources on scene include 2 strike teams, 2 helicopters, 2 SEATS, 1 Scoop plane, 2 Dozers, 3 Hand Crews
No road closures are in effect and Level 1 BE READY Evacuation are still in effect for Mp 2 to 4 1/2 Centerville Hwy.
A fire started in Lyle about mid slope on the hill behind Lyle High School at 7:30 PM on July 12th. By 10:11 PM the fire had reached an estimated 20-30 acres, the area is sparsely populated with Level 1 BE READY evacuations in effect for Mile Post 2 Centerville Highway to Alder Springs both sides of road, including Henderson and Roland roads. Several fire units are stationed at individual structures in case the fire grows. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and is currently under investigation.
The fire is being managed under Unified Command with Klickitat County Fire District 4 and Lyle Fire Department, and Washington State DNR. Chief Mckannon and Dan Miller are two of the local representatives.
“There have been no homes burnt, no structures lost that we know of and no injuries at this point,” said Wes Long, Fire Chief of Klickitat County Fire District in Husum and Snowden. Long was tasked with supporting the local fire chief and DNR. “I have three jobs. So my job is to also aid with state mobilization but state mode has been ruled out for this fire.”
“The size of the fire is roughly 30 acres, the actual size of the fire will be found after they do GEO mapping,” said Long “There are roughly a hundred personnel on the ground with additional resources in route because the fire will need to be managed overnight and into tomorrow.”
Pictured: A view of the fire above Lyle High School at around. 9:30 PM
Air assets came from Washington State DNR at the request of Dan Miller. Air assets included two type two bucket ships and then two Fire Boss scoop planes.
“They’ll be holding overnight unless they’re kicked out to another fire,” said Long “They’ll be available for tomorrow if needed.”
Long said the fire was wind-driven with winds out of the west and also topography-driven as the winds aligned with the slope, allowing the fire to be pushed up into the draw.
“They saw some running and some uphill torching and some spotting early on when the fire would hit pockets of fuel,” said Long.
Currently, the fire is still active.
Agencies immediately on the scene include Lyle Fire Department, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, High Prairie Fire Department, Benjamin Fire Department, Goldendale Fire Department, Southwest Fire Department, Appleton Fire Department, Dallesport Fire Department, Wishram Fire Department, Klickitat County Sheriff's Office and Klickitat PUD.
Part of the reason so many agencies responded to the fire, despite its small size (in comparison to other large fires which span hundred of acres) has to do with changing fire fighting tactics and changes in Washington State Legislation.
“We’ve learned that the quicker you get resources on it, the smaller fires are. The Lands Commission and Hillary Smith have set a goal for the wildfire division in DNR, and that is to keep fires to 10 acres or less when possible and when safe to do so by adding aircraft immediately,” said Long.
That goal in conjunction with local fire departments’ knowledge of topography, the dryness of fuels, and knowing that this was Lyle’s second fire within a few short weeks also prompted the quick deployment of agency resources.
“In June, we had that massive heatwave that we never really recovered from,” said Long. “These are historic fuel moisture levels right now. The fuels are very dry. Even down by the river, I saw Oak trees that are showing signs of heat stress, and Oaks are typically very resilient.”
“Air resources are also coming sooner because different funding mechanisms have happened in legislation that allows us to get on fires and then keep them small. You pay money upfront for the cost of the aircraft, but in the long run, when the fires aren’t getting huge, we’re saving money, and we’re saving property and we're saving natural resources and cultural resources,” said Long.
A Fire Boss dropping water on the Fire behind Lyle High School.
While this benefits the community in numerous ways, it has created some challenges in terms of incident command management, but nothing they haven’t managed to overcome.
“So yes we’ve got more people responding in a hurry to these fires. So that makes it a challenge for people on scene to set it up into a safe operation, but the incident commanders have been able to do just that,” said Long. “They've broken the fire engines basically into three different segments with a supervisor in each, and so they can manage the objectives. The objectives are using an anchor and flank tactic, starting roughly at the base or the origin of the fire and working with the fire, with the flames in front of you, to pinch it off and close it into a box.”
