Vehicle traveling south on Hwy. 95 sets off fires

Several spot fires were ignited and quickly grew along Highway 95 north of Weiser Friday afternoon, Oct. 18. According to Washington County Sheriff Matt Thomas a report was called in at 2:26 p.m., to which the Weiser Fire District and Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responded. Thomas said a chain dragging from a utility-type trailer being pulled southbound was the cause of the fire starts, and the individual driving the rig had returned to the scene. Thomas said there was no citation issued to the driver. A neighboring property owner, Wayne Hill, called in the fires after other motorists had alerted him, and were trying to knock down flames along the roadway. Weiser Fire District Lt. Mac MacDonald said there were 10 personnel from the department on scene, along with three wildland trucks, one tender and one structure truck, and a command rig. MacDonald said they were on scene for approximately two and a-half to three hours, and no mutual aid or traffic control assistance was called to the scene. Photo by Nancy Grindstaff