Wildfire continues to burn southeast of Wenatchee
WENATCHEE -- They call it the Colockum Tarps Fire.
It started Saturday morning about eight just south of Wenatchee.
Sunday it grew and doubled in size to more than 35-hundred acres and it's still growing.
"That's a lot of smoke and that's right by our house,” homeowner Carla Boatman said.
Boatman had to evacuate her home shortly after the fire started.
She hasn't been back since, and she doesn't know what she will find when she does.
Don Seabrook/Wenatchee World
"I'm worried. I'm scared. I mean that's really close to our house. I just hope everything is ok,” Boatman said.
"There's houses burned up, up there and we have no way to get in there to be able to confirm that or deny that, so we know there's probably other structures that have burned up or are burning up right now,” Chelan County Fire District 1 spokesman Rick Isaacson said.
About 60 homes are under a level three evacuation order.
"Level three evacuations which means the fire is here. You should be leaving now,” Isaacson said.
State mobilization Sunday morning brought in 240 fresh fire fighters from around the state.
They are fighting the fire from the ground and from the air with three DNR helicopters and airplanes too.
The fire is fueled by extremely dry brush and high winds that are difficult to predict.
"Right now we're dealing with easterly winds, out of the northwest, whatever and that make it so it stays down in the sage brush and grass. If it should switch and move to the west that's where the trees are,” Isaacson said.
More fuel for the fire.
"It's kind of scary a little bit because it's been going for more than a day now. So I mean they are trying their hard to contain it but it's not hard enough,” homeowner Ulisses Kerby said.
Kerby was forced from his home with little more than the clothes on his back.
"I'm kind of worried. Everything I possess is inside that home so I mean if it goes down it goes down with everything I own,” Kerby said.
Two fire fighters were injured Saturday.
One actually went to the hospital, but both are going to be ok.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.