The Tule Road Fire, burning in the grass and sagebrush country south of Yakima near Toppenish, has grown to more than 24,000 acres and reached 75 percent containment as of this week, according to Washington State Fire Marshal and incident management officials. The fire cause remains under investigation.

Highway 97 Closures

The Tule Road Fire forced the closure of US Highway 97 in both directions near the State Route 142 intersection north of Goldendale during the height of its run. The Washington Department of Transportation worked with fire managers to reopen the corridor, though motorists should continue to check WSDOT travel alerts for updates on road conditions in the area.

The fire burned through grass and brush on Yakima Nation lands and neighboring private lands, driven by the same combination of hot temperatures, low humidity, and southerly winds that has fueled fire activity across the region.

Additional Washington Fires

The Tule Road Fire is not alone. As of June 23, several other significant fires are burning in eastern Washington:

  • Juniper Dunes Fire - burning in southeastern Washington, threatening the ecologically sensitive Juniper Dunes Wilderness area in Franklin County
  • Highway 730 / Twin Sisters Fire - burning along the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River in Walla Walla County
  • Upriver Fire - the Spokane-area fire that has driven evacuations and destroyed structures (see separate coverage)

Resource Competition a Growing Concern

With multiple fires burning simultaneously across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, all competing for the same pool of firefighters, helicopters, and air tankers, fire officials are warning that resource constraints could slow response times if conditions deteriorate further.

Oregon Department of Forestry Deputy Director Alexa Ruiz-Temple told state lawmakers: "The concern that I have is that you can also see Washington covered in its entirety, northern California, large portions of Idaho, and then into Nevada, and that is where we have this competition of resources."

Washington DNR Response

The Washington Department of Natural Resources has activated additional pre-positioning of resources across eastern Washington, coordinating with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (NWCC) in Portland for national resource orders. Daily situation reports and fire maps are available through InciWeb and the NWCC morning briefings published at gacc.nifc.gov.

The public is urged to avoid all fire areas, comply immediately with any evacuation orders, and report new fire starts by calling 911.