The glow from a field fire in the Sandy Point Heights neighborhood could be seen as far away as the Lummi Peninsula through the night as Department of Natural Resources (DNR)firefighters continued to manage the fire.
Whatcom County Fire District 17 (WCFD17) Fire Chief Jim Petrie said this morning he had received inquiries from some Sandy Point Heights neighbors asking if they needed to evacuate at some point. Petrie said there was never a need for anyone to evacuate and the fire had been contained from early on.
The fire occurred on 50 acres of tribal land that had been logged last year. Lummi Forestry had been doing slash burns on the land last week. Petrie said they probably thought those fires had been put out, not anticipating Sunday’s surprise high winds would fan the embers.
Petrie said they got the first call about 5pm Sunday for a smoke investigation. They found several of the slash burn piles had reignited. WCFD17 requested DNR to respond and DNR had assumed command of the scene.
As of 8:30am Monday, DNR remained on the scene and the fire remains contained according to Petrie.
Approximate location of the fire indicated in yellow in the map below.