FINLEY, Wash.-
AUGUST 19 11:06 a.m. According to Southeast Washington Incident Management, the Toothaker fire is now 80% contained.
The previous estimate of the fire being 300 acres in size has been lowered to 188 acres.
Level 1 evacuation orders have been lifted and Meals Road between Toothaker and Piert is now reopened.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
AUGUST 18 6:34 p.m. According to Southeast Washington Incident Management, the Toothaker fire is now 75% contained.
AUGUST 18: 9:30 a.m. The Toothaker fire is now 60% contained according to Benton County Fire District 1 after burning around 300 acres.
Level 1 evacuations are still in place and Meals Rd remains closed between Meals and Toothaker.
Fire crews initially responded to the fire in the area of Toothaker Rd and Meals Rd in the Finley area around 1:30 p.m. on August 17.
Five airplanes, a helicopter and around 70 personnel responded to the fire according to the Southeast Washington Incident Management Team and there was no new growth to the fire overnight.
Fire crews will continue improving control lines on Friday, August 18 and some evacuation levels remain in place.
According to SE Washington Incident Management a Level 1 evacuation is in place from S. Piert Rd and Meals Rd to E. Hover Rd and east to the Columbia River.
UPDATE: 10:14 p.m. According to Benton County Fire District #1, the Tootaker fire is now 30% contained.
According to BCFD #1, the fire is estimated to be 300 acres in size.
Level 1 evacuations will remain in place overnight while crews monitor hot spots.
The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation at this time according to BCFD #1.
10:07 p.m. According to Benton PUD, customers who lost power should have power restored in 4-5 hours.
To view current outage status go online or check the Smarthub app.
7:05 p.m. According to Benton County Fire District #1 all evacuation orders have been lowered to Level 1 “Get Ready”.
6:50 p.m. State fire Mobilization has been issued for the Toothaker Fire.
5:27 p.m. According to Benton County Fire District #1, level 2 evacuation orders have been issued.
The evacuation has been ordered from Meals and South Piert Road to East Hover Road.
Level 2 evacuation means be prepared. If you have animals or will need extra time to evacuate go now.
5:17 p.m. According to the Benton PUD outage map, 145 customers are now without power.
Power has been turned off to allow crews to work safely during the fire.
4:17 p.m. According to Benton County PUD, in efforts to assist crews fighting the Toothaker fire power has been turned off for 41 customers.
According to Benton County PUD it is unknown when power will be restored.
To check an outage status go online or check the SmartHub app.
3:27 p.m. According to Washington State Fire Wire, the fire is now being called the Toothaker fire.
3:13 p.m. Benton County Sheriff’s Office has closed meals Road between Piert Road and Toothaker Road.
Use alternate routs if possible according to BCSO.
3:01 p.m. According to BCFD #1, the fire is estimated to be between 25 and 30 acres in size.
Air support had been requested.
ORIGINAL COVERAGE:
Benton County Fire District #1 is currently responding to fire off of Meals and Toothaker Road.
BCFD #1 is asking people to stay out of the area if possible.
This is a developing story, which means information could change. We are working to report timely and accurate information as we get it.
