Update on wildfires and our Twisp staff

Update on wildfires and our Twisp staff

Conservation Northwest / Aug 20, 2015 / Wildfire

Our thoughts go out to the three brave firefighters who lost their lives in the Methow Valley yesterday, as well as their families.

For those who want to help, The Seattle Times has put together a great list of opportunities to donate to wildfire response efforts in north-central Washington: http://bit.ly/1LpjOa2

Friday Update

Tonasket, the Aeneas Valley and portions of the outskirts of the cities of Omak and Okanogan were evacuated last night. As of 9:00 am this morning, evacuation levels in Twisp and Tonasket have been reduced to a Level 2.

Our staff in Omak have not been evacuated at this time. More: Okanogan County Emergency Management.

Thursday Post

Our staff in Twisp (and office dog Abby and horse Homer) evacuated safely yesterday.

As of 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning (8/20/2015), businesses in the downtown area of Twisp and Winthrop appear to be fine this morning. Checks are ongoing in residential areas and Twisp River Road. Some residential structures are believed to be lost.

A very useful Google Earth fly through of Thursday morning’s Forest Service data on Chelan, Twisp, Okanogan, North Star and Colville Complex wildfires can be found here: https://youtu.be/XiOp6DTfVtE

The towns of Twisp, Winthrop, Riverside and Conconully, the Omak Flats area, the Aeneas Valley and Moses Meadows areas near Nespelem, portions of Chelan South Shore, and Newhalem, Diablo, and North Cascades Institute, remain under Level 3 evacuation.

Highway 20 remains closed at Newhalem and Highway 97 is closed at Riverside. High winds are expected to continue to drive fire growth Thursday and Friday.

Our thoughts go out to the three brave firefighters who lost their lives in the Methow Valley yesterday, as well as their families, all the firefighters, first responders, National Guard, U.S. Army and others responding, and the communities impacted by these wildfires.

More information: