Mike Steele, director of the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce, said it’s too early to determine the economic impact of the lost tourist dollars.
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In total, the blazes have scorched more than 155 square miles, forced about 1,500 residents to evacuate their homes and caused widespread power outages in the area.
As of Tuesday, about 95 large fires were burning across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada and Colorado as national fire officials stayed in their highest possible alert level, signaling that firefighting resources are near their limits.
At a press conference on Monday, Fire Public Information Officers Rob Allen and Rich Magnussen from Emergency Management announced the three fires burning near Chelan are now being referred to as the Chelan Complex Fire. In northern Idaho, more than 40 homes were lost near the town of Kamiah, and in Oregon a lightning-sparked blaze on the Malheur National Forest has grown to more than 60 square miles and has destroyed at least 26 homes.
Two hundred active military personnel from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington have been selected to split up into 20-person fire crews, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Officials have not yet picked which fire the soldiers will fight, but they have plenty of options.
Numerous structures remain threatened and evacuations, road, area and trail closures in effect.
Wildfires are putting such a strain on the nation’s firefighting resources that authorities have activated the military and sought worldwide help to beat back scores of blazes burning uncontrolled throughout the dry West.
The blazes near Chelan, about 180 miles east of Seattle, are burning through grass, brush and timber, fire spokeswoman Janet Pearce said.
Firefighters are continuing structure protection efforts on several fire fronts while building containment lines where possible. But the fire has not yet reached Conconully, in the eastern part of the state. The warehouse contained 1.8 million pounds of apples and employed about 800 people, said Mac Riggan, director of marketing for the company.
“It’s like the fire season gas pedal has been pushed to the floor in a really short period of time, and that’s stressed our resources”, Frederick said.
“The last couple of years have been unusual in the Northwest with reduced precipitation”.
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“It’s not a major loss to the industry”, Riggan said. Under Daugherty’s direction, guard troops have undergone “Red Card” and other fire fighting training in order to be able to help fight wildfires in the state.
