GRANT COUNTY, Wash. — All evacuation notices in Grant County have been lifted after a wildfire burned through the Soap Lake area.
Meanwhile, a crew responding to the wildfire was involved in a rollover crash, injuring two firefighters.
This fire threatened dozens of homes, as flames got dangerously close. The gusty winds made things even more challenging and unpredictable for fire crews.
In total, four wildfires burned through Grant County on Tuesday. The Hiawatha County fire near Soap Lake threatened the most homes, prompting level 3 evacuations.
The fire started around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning right near Shelly Lewis's house.
"This could have seriously taken out all those houses," Lewis said. "They were packing up animals, we were watching it."
Shelly believes the wind actually saved her property, but it pushed flames to the east along State Route 28.
"Every fire department in Grant County has represented this fire," Grant County Emergency Management Specialist and PIO Kyle Foreman said.
The Grant County Sheriff's Office escorted KREM 2 along the closed highway to show how close the fire came to destroying newly built homes.
"We had moisture and rain and everything," Foreman said. "In Grant County, that doesn't stop fires. That only makes more fuel and makes the fuel grow taller. So, we had really tall fuel, we've got really hot temperatures and we have wind and it just made everything that much worse trying to get this fire under control."
The Fourth of July holiday is fast approaching and on Tuesday at noon, fireworks went on sale. They are legal in most parts of Grant County.
"I want fireworks banned completely," Lewis said.
"Discussions with the fire chiefs and all the other agencies around here, we're very concerned with the Fourth of July weekend coming up," Foreman said. "We're asking people to be very, very careful with fireworks."
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