No Charges In Rat Creek Fire

WENATCHEE - One of the Chelan County forest fires that burned thousands of acres may have been started by two men clearing private land near the Icicle and Rat creeks, but no criminal charges will be filed against them, according to the Chelan County sheriff's office.

The Rat Creek fire, believed to be the only blaze in fire-ravaged Chelan County to be caused by humans, burned more than 17,000 acres, destroyed 18 buildings and threatened the town of Leavenworth.

No charges will be filed because the sheriff's office and the state Department of Natural Resources could not prove exactly how the fire started or that there was negligence or intent on the part of either man.

The fire may have been started by a cigarette, but Chelan County Sheriff Dan Breda said only one of the two men smoked and he took precautions to extinguish his cigarettes by grinding them out and putting the butts in his pocket. A cigarette, however, is the most likely cause of the fire.

Chainsaws were in the area but not being used at the time.

Most of the Chelan County fires, which have burned more than 155,000 acres, were believed caused by lightning.

In Leavenworth, the big excitement yesterday came when a 16-mile stretch of U.S. 2 between the Coles Corner-Lake Wenatchee area and Leavenworth was reopened after having been closed because of the fires. The reopening was celebrated with German bands and colorful Bavarian costumes. Authorities cautioned motorists to obey speed and access restrictions on the newly reopened stretch of highway.

Meanwhile firefighters in nine Western states yesterday battled 33 major blazes, including two stubborn ones in the high country of west-central Idaho, officials said.

Some 570 people, most of them children at a summer camp, were evacuated to escape a fast-moving fire in Northern California.

Soldiers from Fort Lewis were to be dispatched to Idaho to give a much-needed hand to firefighters in Idaho battling the Blackwell fire - grown from 10,000 acres to 17,000 acres - and the Corral fire, holding at 29,000 acres.