CHENEY, Wash. — A string of fires near Cheney kept firefighters busy this week, burning through several acres and causing evacuations.
One of those evacuated was Tony O’Neill. Wednesday night proved to be a long one for him and his family after the West Anderson Fire near Cheney forced them to evacuate.
“It's scary. It's unnerving,” he said on Thursday after returning home when evacuations dropped to Level 2. “You spend a lot of time and a lot of your life building things up and have the potential of it just suddenly disappearing.”
The fire picked up again Thursday afternoon, bringing more smoke, aircraft and, for O’Neill, anxiety about his vacation plans.
“It sucks because it’s impacting my walleye fishing,” said O’Neill, followed by a chuckle.
The West Anderson Fire’s just one of multiple that claimed acreage near Cheney this week.
It began with the West Hallett Fire on Tuesday. According to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the fire’s 90% contained as of Saturday and has burned about 126 acres.
Meanwhile, the West Anderson Fire’s torched at least 48 acres as of Saturday and is 25% contained.
Aircraft spent a good chunk of Thursday dropping water on the fire.
While recent fires have led to evacuations, DNR public information officer Eric Keller says they’ve been lucky to keep many of the fires they’ve responded to from getting out of control: “We have lots of resources available right now. We have multiple air resources and that's what helps us catch the fires and keep them small.”
As crews continue to tackle these fires and others pop up, O’Neill says he’s ready if the winds move against his favor.
“If I start to actually see the flames coming, I'm out of here.”
The cause of both fires remains under investigation.
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