Wildfire — Spokane Area, Washington

2008-07-10 to 2008-07-19 · Spokane Area, Washington

Wider weather episode

A strong dry cold front dropped south from British Columbia during the late afternoon and early evening hours. Windy conditions and low humidities both ahead of and immediately behind the cold front resulted in new large fires over portions of the inland northwest. The Spokane Valley Fire was human caused and destroyed 11 homes and 10 out buildings in the Dishman Hills area and burned 1,006 acres. Conditions were very extreme when the fire started with Felts Field at 4 PM PST reported a temperature of 81 degrees, a relative humidity of 10 percent, and sustained west winds of 24 MPH gusting to 44 MPH. A separate fire in Cheney destroyed a garage. A state of emergency was declared by the state governor in Spokane and Ferry counties. The strongest winds from this front channeled down the Okanogan Valley, where Oroville received a peak wind gust of 74 MPH, and Omak 59 MPH. Numerous trees and power poles were blown down by the high winds. There was a total of 5,000 power outages mostly around Oroville, Tonasket, and Omak. In Tonasket, a ten inch diameter tree was downed by the winds, causing extensive damage to a carport and RV. Power poles were also blown down by the winds in Tonasket. Blowing dust was also common with the front passage with visibilites as low as a half mile in Omak. Colville and areas just north of Colville also saw strong winds with gusts to 55 mph which resulted in numerous 12 inch diameter trees as well as several power lines being knocked down. Eight thousand customers lost power in Colville. Several trees were blown down on highway 20 west of Republic. In Kettle Falls, wind gusts to 55 mph knocked down several tree branches. Several other large fires resulted which spread quickly by the strong winds. These include the French Valley Fire, centered seven miles southeast of Omak, which burned 1,420 acres. This fire had an unknown cause, which spread rapidly to the south on the 10th by strong north winds. Fires in Stevens and Ferry Counties resulted mostly from downed power lines. There was structural damage from the fires to a barn, shed, and home.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 108910. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.