Fire crews fight 2 blazes in Douglas County

A Level 1 fire evacuation notice has been issued.

The Douglas County Complex Fire broke out Friday evening and had grown to around 10,000 acres by Saturday night, officials said.

The Jameson Lake fire, which is east of Waterville, Washington, is burning in dry pastures and wheat fields.

State fire assistance has been mobilized to support local firefighters.

The cause of fire is still under investigation.

Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization of state firefighter resources on Friday night after requests from Douglas County Fire District 1 and District 8.

Fire danger in many areas of Washington state, including Douglas County, remains very high/extreme. Level 1 evacuation orders are in place for the threatened residences.

The state assistance will include three hand crews, seven task forces, two rotors and one bulldozer, in addition to resources already fighting the fire.

As of this morning, another fire was burning in the Palisades area near East Wenatchee.

Douglas County Sheriff Gjesdal said the fires started from lightning strikes.

Deputies from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to knock on doors in Rimrock Meadows, a private community on the eastern side of the Cascade Range and 17 miles northwest of the town of Ephrata, at around 9 p.m. local time. Gjesdal says those fires have burned about nine thousand acres of sage and brush.

No other information is available.