A fire management team is hoping to turn over control of a pair of wildfires burning in Yakima River Canyon to local crews Friday.
Both the Roza Slope and South Slope fires, burning on either side of the Yakima-Kittitas county line, are at 60% containment, according to the Southeast Washington Type 3 incident management team, which assumed command of the fire Wednesday. The fires started around noon on Tuesday in the canyon.
Fire crews spent Wednesday building fire lines around the fires and extinguishing hot spots and planned to continue mopping up hot spots and repairing bulldozed fire breaks, according to a release from the team.
With the lull in fire activity, the team was also planning a training exercise in the incident, simulating a response for an injured firefighter, said team spokesperson Ben Shearer.