PATEROS, Wash. (AP) -- A wildfire across the Columbia River from Pateros in central Washington grew to about 8,500 acres -- more than 13 square miles -- and was threatening five homes.
It started Wednesday afternoon, and forced residents to evacuate from about five homes. Spokesman Dan Garner at the incident management center at Brewster High School says residents returned home Thursday afternoon.
About 200 firefighters were on scene Thursday. Douglas County firefighters had been battling the blaze since it broke out Wednesday. They call it the Crane Road Fire.
Douglas County says a state management team from Spokane set up operations at Brewster High School to coordinate the efforts of more than 100 firefighters.
The fire burned grass, brush, scattered timber and some wheat land.
