The boat-only resort town of Stehekin received an urgent evacuation warning Sunday morning as wildfires spread across scenic Lake Chelan, but residents may be hunkering down.
The Level 3 “Leave now!” The evacuation warning for Stehekin, issued at 8 a.m. Sunday, covered the area from Stehekin Landing to the popular High Bridge Campground on the Stehekin River due to the encroaching Pioneer Fire, according to Chelan County Emergency Management.
A map of the resort town of Stehekin, which received urgent evacuation notice Sunday morning as wildfires spread across picturesque Lake Chelan.
An email blast warning was sent to community members and Chelan County sheriff’s deputies went door to door to talk to about 80 residents, Emergency Management Sgt. Jason Reinfeld said. Visitors to the popular resort were evacuated under a Level 2 warning on Thursday.
Reinfeld said his colleagues can’t recall another time Stehekin faced a Level 3 evacuation. “It’s pretty unique with a boat-only community like this,” he said.
Despite the warning and threat of the Pioneer Fire approaching the community, Reinfeld expected most remaining residents to ignore the evacuation and remain in their homes.
“We’re pretty confident that almost everyone is going to stay,” he said. “We can’t force people to leave their properties in Washington.”
Ferries were scheduled for Sunday morning and afternoon to evacuate the community by boat only, with an American Red Cross shelter set up in Chelan.
Gov. Jay Inslee encouraged Stehekin residents to leave as soon as possible.
“There has been a Level 3 evacuation order for the people of Stehekin, and we really need these people to get down the river and out of harm’s way,” he said in a video post on social media platform X. “And the reason is, their presence makes it much more difficult for our firefighters to fight the fire.”
The 33,000-acre Pioneer Fire has been burning on the east side of Lake Chelan since early June, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. But it crossed a major drainage and was now burning uphill, which tends to grow the fire, and toward Stehekin, said Lauren DeRocher, spokeswoman for Pioneer Fire Incident Command.
In addition to evacuations, there have been a wide range of trail, campground and road closures throughout the Cascades, including the closure of much of the U.S. Forest Service’s Chelan Ranger District north of Lake Chelan.
Cliff Courtney estimated there may be 40 residents left in Stehekin, plus fire crews who are now based at Stehekin Valley Ranch, a resort about 9 miles upriver from the village. Courtney, co-owner of Stehekin Ferry, said he continues to run a regular route, maintaining a lifeline for the community.
People who wanted to leave already did so under a Level 2 evacuation warning last week, he said. “I doubt we will see much exodus today,” he said.
The community is tucked away on the north end of Lake Chelan with access to stunning hiking and recreation. It is so remote that there is no cell service and little internet.
Firefighting crews were setting up protection lines — including sprinklers and hoses — in case the fire reached Stehekin, DeRocher said. Firefighters were working with private homeowners to create defensible spaces around their homes.
Courtney said four locations around Stehekin, including the airport and the farm, were designated as safe zones in case the fire reached the town because they had ample access to water.
“Living with nature is part of life in an area like ours. We have become adaptable, but that doesn’t mean all events don’t hurt,” especially financially in the tourism-dependent city, he said.
Nick Davis runs Stehekin Reservations, a travel planning service for the city. He said the fires have a huge impact on the local economy and businesses.
“It’s absolutely devastating,” he said. “There’s just no ifs, ands or buts about it. I’m processing tens of thousands of dollars in refunds.”
Davis said the city is full of fire vehicles and hoses as residents try to prepare. He said many residents, including himself, are not evacuating because they want to protect their homes.
Near Yakima, the Retiro Fire closed Highway 12 from the Highway 410 intersection to White Pass, with Level 3 evacuation warnings in effect for communities near Cowiche and Tieton.
The fire, which burned more than 18,000 acres, started last week. Tim Lobe, spokesman for the Withdrawal fire command, said crews were making good progress in suppressing the eastern edge of the fire, closer to Cowiche and Tieton. “It’s very good news to stop this potential infringement in cities,” he said.
Level 2 evacuation warnings, warning residents to be prepared to leave immediately, were in effect in parts of Tieton and Cowiche.
Temperatures in Stehekin are expected to cool a bit, with a predicted high of 73 on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Rain is likely to sweep across the area, but NWS meteorologist Dustin Guy said it’s unclear whether the rain will be substantial enough to help fight the fires.
“It would not be impossible [Stehekin] to rain up to half an inch,” Guy said. “But… in the long run, it won’t be much help. Things may ease up a bit tomorrow, but hot, dry conditions will return in the second half of the week.”
