WA Highway 14 reopens. Wildfire still burning 60,000 acres in Eastern WA
For most of the week a nearly 80-mile stretch of highway in Southeast Washington has been closed because of a growing wildfire.
The Washington State Department of Transportation reopened the two-lane highway along the Columbia River between the Umatilla Bridge and Biggs Junction on Wednesday, but residents in the area aren’t out of the woods yet.
The Newell Road Wildfire has been blazing since July 21. It has now spread to just shy of 60,000 acres, and is 40% contained, according to the Northwest Incident Management Team.
As the fire crept closer to the Columbia River earlier this week, WashDOT closed a 78-mile stretch of Highway 14 between Benton County at Interstate 82 to Klickitat County near Goldendale.
Drivers were forced to either cross into Oregon and take Interstate 84 or go north across the Cascades to get to the west side of the state.
WashDOT announced the roadway was reopened just before noon on Wednesday.
Evacuation orders are still in place for residents in the Goldendale area. Shelters are located at Goldendale Middle School, the Goldendale Fairgrounds and Grandview Middle School.
Strong winds had kept the fire moving, but cooler temperatures and easing winds overnight Tuesday helped firefighters get ahead to contain the fire, the incident management team said in its daily update.
Crews also shared photos of deer taking refuge at the base of wind turbines in the region, which were buffered from the flames by their concrete pads.
