One year later: Remembering the McEwan Prairie Fire

Central Mason Fire & EMS Chief Jeff Snyder joined state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz on July 2 at the site of last year's McEwan Fire to talk about fire safety on forest lands.

Snyder gave a brief history of the McEwan Fire that started on the Fourth of July last year around 2 p.m.

Central Mason was dispatched to a possible brush fire behind Rainbow Lake and units arrived within minutes, he said.

The fire was about one-fourth of an acre but there was "rapid fire growth," Snyder said.

Firefighters requested additional help and the state Department of Natural Resources, Green Diamond Resource Co. and other districts jumped in.

Snyder said he told his deputy chief, "I think we're going to lose some homes today."

There was a mandatory evacuation of 200 structures, including homes and businesses, around the intersection of East McEwan Prairie Road and East Mason Lake Road that day, which was lifted by noon July 5.

"We didn't lose any homes. We didn't lose any lives," Snyder said.

DNR provided valuable air support "right off the bat," he said.

The agency had nine aircraft working the fire, including air tankers, water planes and helicopters.

"What those aircraft did was they bought us time on the ground so we could do the evacuations, which was done by the Mason County Sheriff's office," according to Snyder.

He hopes when people remember the fire, they think about firework safety, he said.

Investigators determined the McEwan fire was "human caused," Snyder said, most likely from fireworks.

"We had reports when we arrived right away that people had said there had been folks in the area shooting off fireworks," Snyder said.

"We would like it that you would go watch professional fireworks shows as opposed to doing them at your own home," he said.

"Be smart," if you light fireworks yourself, Snyder said - stay away from grass, keep a shovel and water on hand and dispose of them in a container of water.

"One person can ruin it for a lot of people, as what happened last year at this time," he said.

Franz agreed and urged residents to be mindful of the dry forest lands.

"It's the patriotic thing to do. Especially when you're thinking about Washington state as the Evergreen State. It's our responsibility to keep it evergreen, rather than turning it charcoal black," she said.

Washington has already had more than 300 fires this year, according to Franz.