A wildfire sparked Sunday near White Salmon, Washington, continues to burn near the Columbia River, where it’s put hundreds of residents under evacuation orders. The Tunnel 5 Fire was officially 5% contained and 533 acres as of the latest update Tuesday.
In this photo from the White Salmon Fire Department, crew work to control the Tunnel 5 Fire in Skamania County, Wash., on July 2, 2023.
Courtesy of the White Salmon Fire Department
Until late Tuesday afternoon, fire officials in Washington said activity had been “minimal to moderate most of the day.” But shortly after publishing an update to its Facebook page around 5 p.m., Southwest Washington Fire Information officials revised the situation.
“Late this afternoon, there has been an uptick in fire activity on the western edge of the fire,” officials said, noting that air tankers and helicopters were using water buckets to “help firefighters mopping up and keeping the fire in check.”
Fire activity moving westward is consistent with emergency orders from county officials in Washington. Emergency officials in Klickitat County, east of the fire, lifted all evacuation orders for that county on Tuesday. While Skamania County officials plan to continue to evaluate evacuation orders, for now those orders “remain in effect due to extremely high fire danger.”
Travel through the area could remain difficult, as the Washington Department of Transportation has closed State Route 14 from milepost 56 to milepost 65.
People east of the fire may have noticed a drop in air quality over the last few days with smoke moving eastward. But that pattern changed on Tuesday according to Southwest Washington fire officials, with winds blowing out of the east “causing smoke to funnel westward and impact areas of Portland.”
Wednesday could bring challenging conditions for firefighters, with the National Weather Service issuing a “red flag warning” for areas near the fire due to hot, dry and “unstable conditions for weather.”
Fire officials are planning an online meeting on the Southwest Washington Fire Information interagency Facebook page.