Ephrata area fire damages about 26 acres Thursday
May 31—EPHRATA — On Thursday at around 4:30 p.m., Grant County Fire District 13 was called out to a fire in the 12000 block of Road B.6 Northwest. The fire started as a controlled burn, but because of the winds, it quickly became uncontrolled.
"It was a prime example of a control burn getting out of control," GCFD13 Chief Jim Stucky said. "I do not know the actual details. But he probably thought, just like everybody else, 'it's a very slight breeze, I can keep this contained.' Then next thing you know, just a little puff of wind just takes an ember somewhere. That's the way it goes and then they can't catch it, and we get called out."
The blaze burned around 25 acres of land before it was contained at around 5:30 p.m., according to Stucky. Crews from GCFD13, Grant County Fire District 5 and Ephrata Fire Department stayed on scene until about 8 p.m. to complete mop-up. Between the three departments, they had around nine trucks managing the fire.
"But then there's a couple hours of mopping up. We have to try to cool everything down," he said. "We had to get it out because we knew it was a windy night. Fortunately, it didn't come back overnight."
No injuries or structural damage occurred because of the fire; however, some rangeland was damaged and GCFD13 popped a tire on one of the department's vehicles.
"If there's even the slightest wind, don't burn, please," Stucky said. "We're just kind of getting a bunch of these fires that don't need to happen."
Stucky wants to remind people that the burn ban will be in effect beginning Sunday, which means no fires are allowed within Grant County limits.
"No more burning after June 1," Stucky said. "You can really damage property, hurt people and get fines if you decide to burn. Please be careful with any firepits, if that's something you decide to do and keep water nearby in case it decides to spread. Fire is unpredictable and we need to be careful with hotter, drier days coming ahead."
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