It's good to be with you. I'm Tim Pham.
We have a lot to get to this morning.
Here's the critical informationu
need to know about right now abt
the West Hallett fire burning between
Cheney and Spokane this morning.
The fire is still prompting levl
two and three evacuation orders.
Right now, Level 3 evacuations are in place
for everyone living South of 47th Ave.
between Dorset and Cheney.
Spokane Road and N to Marshall .
W 5th Ave.
also under a Level 3 evacuation order.
I want to reiterate here,
Level 3 means go now.
Meanwhile, Level 2 evacuations e
issued for the area of S Plymouth Rd.
That's the area shaded
yellow there on your screen,
which includes people living
South of West Hallett Rd.
Between South Assembly and Dorset Rd.
This morning,
we have team coverage on up with Creme.
Our crews are spread out with te
breaking new details from overn.
Brandon T Jones on a Cheney Spoe
Highway right now giving us an update
on the efforts to put this fire.
So Brandon,
you're now behind fire line,
so tell us what you're seeing
and just how bad this fire is
and how much it spread.
Good morning.
Yeah, good morning, Tim.
We just got a chance to cross tt
fire line off of Cheney, Spokane Road.
And I want you to go ahead and look at this,
Tim, right now because right over here you
can see this area is completely charred up.
That is where this fire was
burning just yesterday.
And then if you look even further back,
there was a bulldozing line thae
Department of Natural Resources,
Spokane County fire crews,
they created. Guess what?
Those flames ended up hopping or
that because of such strong win.
And then if we go ahead and
take an even closer look,
you can see some flames just
popped up right over there.
You see that smoke over there?
That is active flames still at the moment.
So right now they're still battling this.
At this point,
there's hot spots all over ther,
smoke all in the air.
You can just feel that smoke
just singe into your throat,
into your, into your lungs.
So right now just be as safe as possible.
There's still those evacuation orders
in place and Toll said otherwis.
But yes, we did just get a chance to go
ahead and cross over those fire lines.
The DNR officials even told us t
too long ago, just a few minutes ago,
that that is that yesterday they even
had trouble with their air crew.
They usually like to fight the
fire from the head of the fire,
but the winds were so strong,
they were so strong that they couldn't even
do that properly and do it in a good manner.
But yeah, I think we also,
we have some sound from those
air crews yesterday.
So if we can go ahead and play
that right now,
let's take a listen.
So yeah, you could hear just
how active the fight against
that fire was yesterday evening.
And I mean that continued
all throughout the night.
There were crews present.
They were working just continuing to to
to solidify that line in this forest.
The area that we've seen cars,
DNR official vehicles driving
through this road over here and
then just as I mentioned flames,
they were right there yesterday.
We're going to continue to work and get
updates for you throughout the morning.
Once we have any new information
we'll be able to bring that to .
You can find that on the CRIM 2
app on our website and on the a,
but for right now, reporting live in Cheney.
Brandon T Jones, CRIM 2 News.
Incredible pictures there.
Brandon, thank you.
And this morning our team coverage continues.
We also have Nicole Hernandez le
at Cheney High School right now
where evacuees were told to go.
Nicole, what's happening there
right now and what are you seei?
Good morning,
Tim. Good morning.
Pretty quiet here at Cheney
High School this morning.
Right now we do see an American
Red Cross trailer parked outside
of the high school here,
ready for any evacuees that need
to come use this service here,
this evacuation shelter.
About 20 minutes ago we did have
one person walk inside opening
the front doors to Cheney High
School here this morning, she s.
As of right now,
doesn't seem like there's anybody using
the evacuation center this morn,
but she did see a couple of peoe
here using these services yestey
evening when that fire sparked.
Now when this fire did spark
yesterday afternoon,
it immediately was burning
close to homes and crews said 20
plus homes were in danger from
that fire pretty immediately.
So as of yesterday evening,
we do know no homes or
other buildings had burned.
We are still waiting an up
for an update there.
We spoke to a woman whose husba,
son and motherinlaw had to get
ready to evacuate and she said
this is the closest the fire
has ever got into their home.
Now her motherinlaw has been
working to pack up her valuable.
While her son and grandson are
making sure the home is protect,
planes are actually flying over
her house quite frequently.
My husband and his son are
there building a defense.
They're probably they're on
the other side of the Ridge,
less than a probably about a mi.
So anyone still needing to evac.
Cheney High School is at 460 N 6th St.
They do have food,
cots and other necessities
here for the people evacuating.
If you're coming to the shelter,
though, you should bring any
prescription and emergency medicines,
extra clothes, pillows, blanket,
hygiene supplies, important documents,
and any other special items for
children and infants such as diapers,
formulas, toys, etc.
We are still waiting on an updae
from overnight crews as to how
this fire has burned and whether
or not they'll be able to start
lifting any of those evacuation
notices in Jeannie Nicole Herna,
Crum 2 News.