Heat wave, wildfire season and more car crashes lead to increases Okanogan County Fire District 6 had its busiest year ever in 2021, according to the district’s annual report. This district reported 351 “call-outs” responding to 41 different types of incidents — ranging from wildland, structure and vehicle fires to animal rescue — a 10% […]
Fire
Twisp Restoration Project revised after Cedar Creek Fire
Ranger district to share revised plans, timeline in virtual meeting Because approximately 10,600 acres that had been part of the proposed Twisp Restoration Project (TRP) were burned by last summer’s Cedar Creek Fire, the Methow Valley Ranger District has revised the project to remove the watersheds affected by the fire. The original project area covered […]
Fire District 6 responds to car, house fires on Dec. 24
Okanogan County Fire District 6 had a busy morning on Christmas Eve, responding to fires near Twisp and Mazama. The first fire was reported at about 4 a.m. about a mile and a half up Twisp River Road, Fire District 6 Chief Cody Acord told the Methow Valley News. Crews arrived to find a van […]
Woman loses home, dogs in fire Monday
A Winthrop woman lost nearly all of her possessions and two of her three beloved dogs in a fire Monday in Winthrop, her family told the Methow Valley News. Darlene Hall, 85, is a longtime valley resident. She was living in a travel trailer on her family’s property on Northcott Road, her granddaughter Kyla Roberts […]
Fire District 6 trains more than a dozen new volunteers
Recruits find camaraderie, empowerment If Okanogan County Fire District 6 responds to a call for a house fire or wildfire, or to a car crash on Highway 20, it’s a safe bet there will be volunteers among those first responders. Like rural fire districts across the state and the country, District 6 relies on volunteers […]
DNR: Cub Creek 2 Fire caused by propane torch
Tool was being used to fix irrigation pipe The Cub Creek 2 Fire, which started on July 16 and burned more than 70,000 acres, was caused when a property owner used a propane torch to repair an irrigation pipe during hot, dry, windy conditions. “Based on the fire pattern indicators observed, evidence located at the […]
Adapting to fire helped save house and avoid a ‘moonscape’
As the Cedar Creek Fire approached their house in July, Peter Polson and Shannon Huffman Polson were reasonably confident they’d done their best to protect their home. Today, the scars from the fire are stark. The ground is charred just 20 feet away, but the house is untouched. The trunks of the large pines near […]
Cedar Creek Fire areas not eligible for Emergency Watershed Protection program
Residents urged to heed flood warnings While many areas burned in the Cedar Creek Fire now have hydrophobic, or water-repellant soils, and could be at risk for post-fire flooding, the areas are not at high enough risk to be eligible for the federal Emergency Watershed Protection program, a representative from the National Resources Conservation Service […]
Meeting on flood risks after fires set for Wednesday night
A community meeting on post-fire flood risk in the Cedar Creek wildfire area is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 27). The meeting will include speakers from the Okanogan County Conservation District, United States Department of Agriculture, National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A question and answer session will follow. To join […]
Gov. Inslee tours valley to see fire, smoke impacts
Voices support for recovery Gov. Jay Inslee got an up-close and personal view of the widespread impact of this summer’s fires in a visit to the Methow Valley on Wednesday (Sept. 29). Inslee met with firefighters, mayors and a county commissioner, health care providers, the head of Clean Air Methow, and social service and conservation […]
