Fire near Yakima grows to nearly 60,000 acres, threatens 900 homes

At least 60,000 acres are on fire outside of Yakima as firefighters struggle to contain the Evans Canyon Fire.

During a Friday morning news conference Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said the fire is about 10 percent contained.

More than 900 homes are under mandatory evacuation orders, including Anabel Santos’ house near Selah.

“It’s just horrible,” she said.

Santos returned from her brother’s house on Thursday to grab a few more things.

“Clothes in the car, pillows, just a little bit of everything that we need,” she said.

Her three daughters have asthma.

Her husband is away, fishing in the Bering Sea.

“Very stressful, very stressful, for myself, for the kids, for the animals,” Santos said. “It’s very sad. A lot of people have lost already their homes.”

State officials know of five homes that have burned so far and listed the fire as 0% contained.

“Crews are struggling with gaining footholds and control of it,” said State Forester George Geissler.

Smoke from the Evans Canyon Fire is blowing east and south, away from Western Washington.

But Seattle is about to see smoke from California fires.

“What we’re predicting, between now and Saturday, is going to be very different than what we saw in the summers of 2017 and 2018,” said Joel Creswell of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

Two and three years ago, Seattle was choked in smoke and falling ash.

Creswell has a reassuring prediction, at least for the next few days.

“It’s not going to be like that. This is going to be way up in the atmosphere in an area where people are not breathing,” he said.

Cox Media Group