Photo courtesy of InciWeb

As of today, the Mills Canyon Fire in eastern Washington has grown to over 18,000 acres.

The fire began two miles east of the city of Entiat on Tuesday, growing to over 1000 acres in a matter of hours and forcing immediate evacuations in the area. The cause has yet to be determined, but with eastern Washington’s current heat wave causing unusually dry conditions, even the smallest spark has the potential to rapidly accelerate into a large fire.

Over 450 firefighters are battling the flames with air support. A request by local officials for State Mobilization was declared on Wednesday evening, leading to cooperation between the Forest Service, Washington DNR, BLM, Chelan County Emergency Management, and Chelan County Fire District 8. Despite the rapidly growing number of personnel on scene, heavy winds in the area over the past few days have left them unable to contain any percent of the fire. Thankfully, there may be a break soon.

“We had heavy wind last night, but now things have settled down,” said Joe Anderson, a spokesman for the teams currently on scene. However, a Level 3 Evacuation was initiated this afternoon for structures along Roaring Creek Road, requiring residents to leave immediately. Other evacuation notices are currently in effect for 109 structures along Highway 97A, and for 122 structures on Entiat River Road. Current evacuation information can be found here.

Additional, up-to-date information on the Mills Canyon Fire is available via Inciweb.