The summer wildfire season started weeks too soon in the Lower Valley. Nearly 300 acres of brush fire burned east of Mabton near State Route 22 late Wednesday evening, according to Yakima County Fire District 5 Fire Chief Brian Vogel.
"For this time of year it was pretty intense. It's amazing how dry the light flashy fuels are already," said Chief Vogel. "And of course it burns through that stuff really fast, that's where we get our extreme fire growth and acreage growth."
The near 10 mph winds licking everything in its path.
As firefighters continued to battle the fields outside of Mabton, they told Action News they have a person of interest who they believe started the brush fire with fireworks, though no arrests have been made.
Action News searched nearby neighborhoods and found an 18-year-old who confessed to being in the field and accidentally starting the fire. He explained to Action News how it happened.
"It was small at first, so we tried to stomp it out. And then it just started spreading like, that way up the hill," said the 18-year-old, who wanted to keep his identity confidential, after Action News told him how much was destroyed.