Wildfire blackens nearly 4,000 acres

Odessa's rural and town-based firefighters had their hands full again this past week, as a wildfire northwest of town raged through wheat stubble, CRP and sagebrush, threatening several ranch and farm homes in its path. No homes were lost or damaged but haystacks went up in flames, and a small herd of goats was also caught by the rapidly spreading conflagration and perished at the Finney farmstead, according to a member of the fire department. All other livestock and structures were able to be delivered from the fire by the hard-working crews.

Two crop-dusting airplanes piloted by Joel Sherwood and Kevin Leyva also filled up with water and helped the ground-based crews to put out the fire. As with the other recent fire north of town only a few weeks ago, which was essentially adjacent to the new fire area, the very hot weather of up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit created conditions conducive to subsequent flareups of the flames on two succeeding days. Together with the smoke from an even larger forest fire in the Chelan area, the air in and around Odessa and much of the rest of eastern Washington was very smoky all weekend long.

Surveying the blackened area on Sunday, firefighter Landon Lobe said he and other crew members were estimating the blackened area at between 3,500 and 4,000 acres. A haystack continues to smolder, he said, but other than that area of concern, he was cautiously optimistic that there would be no recurrence of the fire. He added, however, that strong winds could change the situation very quickly. Other than slightly breezy conditions forecast for Thursday, August 6, no windy conditions are expected. The extreme heat of the past week has also abated, and the next week is expected to have temperatures mostly in the 80s, according to the National Weather Service.