YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. — All evacuation levels have been dropped after structures were lost and state fire assistance was mobilized during the Humann Fire in Yakima County on Sunday.
The Humann Fire started on Sunday, June 28, at approximately 4:47 p.m. and was estimated at 150 acres and growing at that time, burning in sage and grass, and threatening public safety, residences, and private property.
At 8:30 p.m. that same day, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization of state firefighting resources at the request of Assistant Fire Chief Jacob Stuker, Yakima County Fire District 2.
The State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide a process to quickly notify, assemble, and deploy fire service personnel, equipment, and other resources from around the state when fires, disasters, or other events exceed the capacity of local jurisdictions.
Level 3 evacuations were put into effect Sunday night, and the State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray was activated to Level 2, partial activation, to help coordinate state assistance. Strike teams were ordered to help with containment efforts, while the State Fire Marshal’s Office coordinated the dispatch of resources.
As of 8 a.m. Monday, Yakima Valley Emergency Management confirmed that all evacuation levels had been dropped.
The Selah Fire Department also posted on social media Monday morning, reporting that structures were lost in the wildfire.
“This fire moved extremely fast and unfortunately we did lose some structures, the full extent of which we are still discovering as the smoke clears and the sun comes up,” wrote the fire department. “On a brighter note, there were no reported injuries. The fact that more structures were not lost is a testament to the hard work of our personnel, our volunteers, and our neighbors, without them this fire would have been much more devastating.”
The department thanked its “neighbors,” multiple fire agencies from across Eastern Washington, asking that residents give these crews room to work while they continue to address likely flare-ups throughout the day.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
More information about the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan is available at: wsp.wa.gov/all-risk-mobilization