Challenging fire weather returns to Pacific Northwest as crews battle destructive Spokane blazes
By Meteorologist Mary Gilbert, CNN
(CNN) — A new round of flame-fueling winds and low humidity is escalating wildfire danger once again in the Pacific Northwest as fire crews work tirelessly to contain destructive blazes in Spokane, Washington, and across the region.
A short-lived reprieve from adverse weather over the past several days gave crews a chance to make considerable progress on taming the flames, but weather conditions on Friday and Saturday threaten to undo some of that hard work or fan sparks into new blazes.
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A complex of three fires near Spokane in the eastern portion of the state has scorched more than 10,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of homes and structures since igniting on Saturday. At one point, the fires forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. Some have since returned to find treasured memories turned to ashes.
And for those whose homes survived the fires but are in immediate affected areas, “it is going to be weeks before we can safely let you in,” Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said during a news conference Thursday, warning of air quality concerns in the area.
Nowels said evacuations will remain in place due to the incoming fire conditions expected this weekend. “There will likely not be any changes to the evacuation zones until the weekend is over and this weather event has passed us,” he said.
Authorities have arrested and charged a Spokane resident with first-degree arson in one of the fires. The man admitted to igniting the blaze and more than two dozen others since last year, Thursday court documents show.
Fires aren’t just raging near Spokane: There are dozens of active blazes across the West, including Washington, Oregon and California. These are producing smoke that’s creating abysmal air quality in parts of the Northwest. It’s the worst fire season in more than 30 years for Washington and Oregon, one fueled by human-caused climate change.
With no rain in the forecast, here’s what to expect from the wind and heat in the coming days.
Greater Spokane area
Increasing winds, low humidity and hot temperatures are combining to elevate fire danger on both Friday and Saturday, with the worst conditions expected in the afternoon.
A red flag warning is in effect for both days in Spokane and other parts of eastern Washington. Red flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service to warn of weather conditions that could lead to dangerous wildfire spread.
Winds ramped up Friday afternoon with gusts around 20 mph in some areas, including Spokane International Airport. Gusts this high are strong enough to blow around embers and keep fire crews on their toes but aren’t close to the nearly 50 mph gusts that fueled the fires’ initial explosive spread last weekend.
High temperatures reached the mid-90s on Friday, which is several degrees hotter than normal during the area’s hottest time of the year.
The area will see an ebb and flow of breezy winds this weekend into early next week. Winds will ease overnight Friday, but another bout of stronger winds will arrive Saturday, once again ramping up around noon local time and lasting through the afternoon. High temperatures will drop to 88 degrees, which is closer to the average for Spokane this time of year, but winds between 20 and 30 mph will make Saturday another challenging day for fire crews.
Winds will ease up again overnight and then increase to gusts of 15 to 20 mph during the afternoon Sunday, but the overall threat of fire spread will be less than Saturday’s peak.
That pattern of wind change is something first responders are working to prepare for, Maj. Gen. Gent Welsh, commander of the Washington National Guard, told CNN’s Omar Jimenez on Thursday. “They want to get those containment lines in now before that wind hits.”
Almost 400 members of the guard are deployed across the state, Welsh said.
Pacific Northwest
Hot and windy conditions are not confined to eastern Washington. Central Washington is seeing the strongest winds, with gusts between 30 and 40 mph reported in a few locations just east of the Cascades.
Winds of that strength start to present a greater risk of erratic wildfire behavior and spread, and a red flag warning has been issued in central Washington for both Friday and Saturday.
Similar to Spokane, the windiest periods will be during the afternoon from Friday through Sunday, with weaker winds each night.
In western Washington, a wildfire started north of Mount Rainier and has burned more than 200 acres as of Friday evening. Named the Grand Park 2 Fire, it remains uncontained.
Central and eastern Oregon will also deal with periods of gustier winds each day. Many areas where fires are already burning could see gusts up to 20 mph, while the lower Columbia River Basin in northern Oregon could get up to 35 mph, especially on Saturday.
Over 40 large fires are burning in Washington and Oregon — more than half of the nationwide total, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Several fires are also raging in California, including the Gann Fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, which has burned more than 10,000 acres since it ignited Monday and left one person dead.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Calaveras County due to the fire. A man was arrested in connection to the blaze, which investigators believe was accidentally started by sparks from a chain saw, according to the Associated Press.
Another fire ignited Friday afternoon in the outskirts of Los Angeles County near Gorman, which has burned over 1,000 acres, according to CalFire.
The fast-moving brush fire, named the Ridge Fire, rapidly spread down the hill, prompting evacuations before the flames jumped Interstate 5, which was shut down in both directions, according to CNN affiliate KABC.
In southwest Utah, a firefighting helicopter crashed near a wildfire in the Fishlake National Forest on Friday in “remote terrain under unknown circumstances during firefighting operations,” the Great Basin Incident Management Team said.
There were two people on board, The Associated Press reported, saying the agency and the NTSB could not confirm their conditions as it was difficult to reach the crash site.
“Wildland firefighting is among the most dangerous jobs in the world,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wrote in a social media post about the crash. “Today is a painful reminder of the extraordinary risks these brave men and women accept to protect us.”
Smoke and air quality issues
Smoke and its literal chokehold on air quality continue to be the most widespread impact of the ongoing fires.
Air quality in the Pacific Northwest has reached unhealthy or very unhealthy levels since the start of the week, but some areas are seeing changes because of a wind shift.
Air quality has improved west of the Cascades, including in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, after a wind shift Thursday pushed smoke east. Any remaining smoke in the region should completely loosen its grip on Friday.
Those same winds will keep parts of Washington and Oregon east of the Cascades shrouded in smoke, with poor air quality through the weekend. The smoke will also affect air quality in parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Smoke higher in the atmosphere will also spread farther east into the Northern Plains and Midwest, especially this weekend.
But this smoke is forecast to stay high enough that it’s unlikely to cause a repeat of the widespread smoky conditions and poor air quality that affected many areas in the central and eastern US in July.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Maria Aguilar and Meteorologist Chris Dolce contributed to this report.
