Kennewick, WA
A “fire tornado” at an illegal dump site helped fuel the inferno that burned five Kennewick homes Saturday. Looky-loos angling for photos slowed fire crews.
Now that the crisis has passed, the fire chiefs who led the initial response to the Bofer Canyon Fire are speaking out about human factors that complicated fighting the wildfire.
Firefighters from Benton County Fire District 1 were the first called to the blaze, which would eventually consume 5,000 acres.
At 2:47 p.m., the agency received reports of a brush fire south of Kennewick along Interstate 82 near the Highway 397 and Locust Grove interchange. The first fire crews arrived about five minutes later.
Tri-City fire investigators say they have not been able to find what sparked the fire. On Wednesday, private fire investigators with a Portland-based forensics company were on their hands and knees along Interstate 82, continuing the search for clues.
District 1 Fire Chief Lonnie Click said the weekend worked in their favor at first.
The mostly rural fire agency relies on volunteers to supplement its handful of professional staff.
Those volunteers were readily available when the call came in, and the agency was able to mount a strong response from the start, including two bulldozer teams.
The fire’s eastward progress was halted at Highway 397. But the reprieve proved brief.
Gusting winds created a flaming dust devil that picked up burning garbage from an illegal dump site, then spinning the flaming debris into dry brush.
Click said firefighters could only watch as burning paper flew over the road and into an open field, touching off a fresh blaze. The winds that reached 20 to 25 mph pushed the flames toward south Kennewick.
“It’s an ongoing problem with folks hauling their trash on rural roads and dumping it in the ditch. ... It’s very hard to patrol and enforce the no-dumping rules,” he told the Herald.
The Kennewick Fire Department was called in to help at 3:10 p.m.
A wildfire was headed over the hill, toward the houses strung along the city’s southern foothills, including the Canyon Lakes and Inspiration Estates neighborhoods.
Kennewick fire Chief Vince Beasley said there were about 18 firefighters on duty at the city’s five stations when the call came in.
That’s the typical staffing level for a summer weekend, when the ranks are thinned by vacations.
In an update to the Kennewick City Council this week, Beasley said the battalion commander responded to assess the situation. It didn’t take long for the wind-fueled blaze to top the hill and race toward the residential neighborhoods.
Within minutes, area residents were being evacuated, though no official evacuation order was given.
As residents scurried to leave, the massive smoke plume was attracting unwelcome attention. Lookie-loos flocked to the foothills for a closer look.
Beasley recounted a line of 15 to 20 cars at South 36th and Vancouver streets, all trying to turn onto 36th, toward the fire. The bottleneck slowed emergency responders, he said.
“In an ideal world, all the traffic should be going one way, away from the hazard,” Beasley said.
The backup wasn’t an isolated problem.
Kennewick City Councilman Steve Young shared how a family friend tried to evacuate from Inspiration Estates, at the top of Conway, at West 50th to West 51st streets.
Finding the exit blocked by gawkers, the would-be evacuee turned around and went home.
“That was a tremendous problem for us,” Beasley said. “We have to educate the public not to run toward the incident.”
By 3:35 p.m., Kennewick summoned its off-duty personnel to join the fight and put out a call for mutual aid from neighboring agencies.
Benton County Fire districts 2 and 4, Franklin County fire districts 3 and 5, Pasco and Richland fire departments and Hanford Fire crews responded, as did crews from Clark and Grant counties.
About 159 firefighters were on the line with 59 fire engines and other equipment.
At 3:45 — 58 minutes after the initial report — the Washington State Patrol authorized the mobilization of state firefighting resources, placing the fire under the coordination of a state incident management team.
That brought in aerial tankers and other help. It also shifted the cost of fighting the fire to the state and off the backs of local government. The last estimate was $175,000.
When it was all over, the Bofer Canyon Fire had leveled five homes, damaged three others and killed a horse and a mule. Six outbuildings also were lost.
Beasley said the bottom line is no people were killed or even badly hurt. Losing five homes is bad, but he’s grateful the fire didn’t take more.
“I believe we saved hundreds of homes,” he told city officials.
Beasley plans to hold a formal post-incident review to assess the fire and the response.
“There are things we can do better, and will,” he said.
This story was originally published August 15, 2018 7:05 PM.