Fire crews worked through Wednesday night to keep the William Flats Fire on the Colville Indian Reservation from jumping the Columbia River at Lake Roosevelt and moving farther east toward the Spokane Indian Reservation. Those efforts were successful as of late Thursday when more than 900 firefighters continued to battle the fire, but locals and officials remained concerned that the southeast flank of the fire would cross the Columbia and move toward the town of Hunters, where flakes of ash were falling Thursday evening.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 9:54:15 AM - SOURCE: Spokane Spokesman-Review

The Williams Flats Fire has hit 40,000 acres as more than 1,000 fire personnel on scene. The blaze remains about 25 percent contained as of Thursday night. Level 3 evacuations are in place southwest of Wilmont Creek to Whitestone Lookout Road. Residents in the Wilmont Creek drainage are under Level 2 notice and all residents and campers along the shoreline of Lake Roosevelt and the Columbia River, from the Falls Creek/Cougar Canyon Road south to Wilmont Creek Road are under Level 1, according to officials.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:31:03 AM - SOURCE: iFiberOne

Smokey Bear, the recognizable mascot of wildfire prevention in the United States, turns 75 today. The U.S. Forest Service started the campaign in 1944 and used it to educate the American public on the dangers of forest fires. A live mascot, appropriately named Smokey, was added to the campaign in 1950.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

An armed man reportedly wearing body armor and pushing a shopping cart at a Walmart store in Missouri on Thursday led a store manager to pull the fire alarm and sent customers fleeing -- but an armed off-duty firefighter was able to detain the man until police officers arrived, Springfield police said.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

The thought of flight and the consuming power of fire has fascinated mankind for centuries. Who hasn’t looked up wondering what it would be like to soar among the clouds? Who hasn’t sat mesmerized, staring into a campfire? The translucent red flames reaching toward the sky somehow hold us captive. For a select few, fire and flight go hand in hand.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCET