Disabled Car Started Brush Fire and Closed SR-28 Most of the Day

A disabled vehicle fire on SR-28 yesterday afternoon turned into a brush fire that shut down the highway, jumped across the state route, and kept the road closed for hours before finally reopening just after 11 PM.

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This fire came just a day after fire danger across eastern Washington turned to extreme levels.

The Timeline of the Vehicle/Brush Fire on SR-28 Yesterday

Washington State Patrol District 6 posted the initial closure alert yesterday (Sunday)at 4:11 PM with SR-28 closed at Trinidad Hill near milepost 23 because of a brush fire.

Soon after, they reported the fire had been started by a disabled vehicle fire at milepost 23. A car broke down, caught fire, and the flames spread into the bone-dry brush surrounding the highway.

Within the next hour, the situation escalated. WSP confirmed the fire had jumped the state route, crossing from one side of the highway to the other, and warned drivers to expect significantly longer delays than originally anticipated.

Once a fire crosses a road, it becomes much harder to contain, and the highway becomes a liability rather than a barrier.

Seven Hours Before the Road Reopened

Drivers asking for an estimated reopening time were told to expect several more hours. That estimate was pretty close, with the roadway cleared and reopened around 11:15 PM, almost seven hours after the first closure was posted.

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This fire is a real-time example of what EXTREME fire danger actually looks like on the ground. It only took a car breaking down on the side of a highway to ignite a brush fire that closed a state route for seven hours in eastern Washington.