Brush fires disrupt traffic on Western Washington highways

Brush fires brought traffic to a crawl on parts of Interstate 5 and closed lanes on State Route 599 on Wednesday.

Washington State Department of Transportation says there is a significant fire risk right now in Washington.

Fire danger will also be high to extreme Thursday through Saturday as the wind blowing out of the Cascades into the Western Washington lowlands will be very dry. Fires that occur could spread rapidly.

Interstate 5 near Des Moines 

Fire crews blocked two lanes for a large brush fire on Interstate 5 at South 216th Street on late Wednesday afternoon.

Heavy smoke still billowed over the interstate during the evening commute at 4:45 p.m.

One of the fires was put out nearly an hour later.

State Route 599 near Tukwila 

A road side fire along southbound State Route 599 completely blocked southbound lanes near the State Route 99 interchange around 3:30 p.m.

Within 10 minutes of the fire starting, it grew to a second-alarm fire.

Officials have no idea how the fire started.

WSDOT cameras showed what appears to be two fires just below the light rail tracks. The fire was out by 5:30 p.m.

Cox Media Group