Two wildfires burning in different corners of Washington have forced evacuation orders, as crews contend with fast-moving flames that are threatening homes and farmland. The Kaiser Canyon fire in Okanogan County has doubled in size overnight and pushed evacuations to their highest level, while the larger Lyons Ferry fire in Franklin County continues to spread across a rural, agricultural stretch of the eastern part of the state.
The Kaiser Canyon fire sparked overnight and quickly grew to more than 2,000 acres, roughly double its earlier size. As of the latest update, the fire was still 0% contained, meaning crews had not yet managed to establish any control line around its perimeter. Its rapid growth left communities in the surrounding area scrambling to respond.
The fire is burning in Okanogan County, south of Nespelem, in the north-central part of the state. As the flames spread, officials expanded Level 3 go-now evacuation orders, telling residents in the affected zone that they needed to leave immediately rather than wait for conditions to worsen.
Authorities described the danger using the state's three-tier evacuation system. Residents in areas marked red were told they needed to leave right away, those in the yellow zones were placed under level two orders and told to be ready to go, and green areas denoted level one, a warning to stay alert and prepared to evacuate if conditions changed.
Farther south, a second and larger fire, known as the Lyons Ferry fire, was burning in Franklin County near the town of Kahlotus, in the stretch of country between the Tri-Cities and Ritzville. Level two, be-ready evacuation orders were put in place for the surrounding area as the fire pushed outward.
The Lyons Ferry fire started on Wednesday night and had grown to about 3,000 acres by the time of the latest report, and officials said it was still expanding. State fire officials warned that the flames were threatening both homes and crops as the fire burned through a largely agricultural part of Franklin County, where an advancing wildfire endangers standing farmland as much as the scattered residences nearby.
The two blazes were among several that fire agencies across the region were working to bring under control. With the Kaiser Canyon fire still completely uncontained under go-now orders and the Lyons Ferry fire continuing to grow, officials urged residents in the affected zones to follow evacuation notices closely and be ready to leave quickly should conditions deteriorate.