Video: Mount Adams fire continues to grow

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SEATTLE – Firefighters batting the state's wildfire are bracing for a tough day Wednesday.

A red flag warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for several parts of Eastern and Central Washington and Oregon, meaning weather conditions will be harder for fighting the current fires and ripe for new ones.

Meanwhile, it turns out a fire that destroyed nearly a dozen homes in the Spokane Valley was caused by an unapproved residential fire.

KING / Courtesy Bob Hood

Bob Hood was flying from Portland to Wenatchee Sunday when he snapped this photo of the Cold Springs wildfire at the base of Mount Adams. The picture was taken from his plane at 9,500 feet.

The Spokane Valley Fire Department says a woman was in charge of an unapproved fire adjacent to her property. Their investigation led them to determine that fire blew up Thursday afternoon into the Valley View Fire that would go on to destroy a total of 16 buildings, including 11 homes.

The total cost of fire fighting and damage is still being calculated. It has not yet been announced if the woman will face charges for the fire.

Most of the attention for firefighters now is focused on the Cold Springs fire near Mount Adams. It has roared through more than 8,000 acres of timber, some in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the rest on the Yakama Indian Reservation.

No homes are threatened, but firefighters have wrapped a historic guard station built in 1909 with fire-retardant material and built fire lines around it. All climbers on the 12,776-foot Mount Adams have been evacuated, and Camp Chaparral, a youth camp operated by the Yakama tribe, has been evacuated as a precaution.

People who had been in the area to climb Mount Adams had all been evacuated by midday Monday. Some 200 firefighters were on the lines.

Crews had no estimate of when the fire might be contained. First reported late Saturday, the fire was believed to have been started by lightning several days earlier.

The Badger Mountain Complex fire has burned approximately 15,023 acres since it started last week. 460 fire personnel are battling the flames. It is 65 percent contained.

Twelve miles east of Tonasket in far north-central Washington, the Cayuse Fire was 80 percent contained Tuesday at 1,768 acres. More than 400 firefighters were there.

The Rattlesnake Point Complex Wildland fire near Okanogan was at 2,633 acres and 95 percent contained Tuesday night.

Another blaze in northeast Washington near Inchelium was 85 percent contained at 372 acres.