MARYSVILLE — Arson is blamed for a rash of brush fires that stretched from Dagmars Marina in north Everett to Skagit County along I-5 on Tuesday afternoon, tying up traffic for miles.
Parched brown grass made for fast-burning tinder. Firefighters from at least eight departments scrambled to keep up with the flurry of flames along both sides of the freeway. They prevented the fires from spreading and blinding drivers with smoke.
No injuries were reported. The fires all were extinguished by 3:45 p.m.
The Washington State Patrol was looking for two men a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy said he spotted north of Stanwood apparently attempting to start a fire with a road flare.
The deputy said the men drove off before he could confront them.
“These people put a lot of lives at risk,” trooper Heather Axtman said. The suspects were in a light-colored Hyundai Sonata. One was believed to be in his 50s, while the other appeared older. Both men had light-colored hair.
Fire investigators from Everett and elsewhere in Snohomish County were gathering at the scenes, looking for evidence to determine what exactly caused the blazes.
“A fingerprint had been located on a flare,” she said. It is being sent to a crime lab for analysis.
There were at least 10 separate fires reported along the interstate, including one just past the Snohomish-Skagit county line. Stray embers aren’t suspected as a cause for spreading the fires.
“The wind direction didn’t match to where the fires were starting,” Axtman said.
At one point, the backup along southbound I-5 stretched from Smokey Point to Everett.
During the worst of the fires, every Marysville fire rig was deployed, Fire Marshal Tom Maloney said. The half-dozen or so fires in his district all were extinguished by 2:30 p.m.
An apparently unrelated fire added to the trouble. It involved a semi-truck at Donna’s Travel Plaza on the west side of 116th Street in Tulalip. No injuries were reported in that fire, and it was not believed to be connected to the suspected arsons, Maloney said. The truck was a total loss of melted metal and plastic.
Alabama truck drivers Joe Morris and Richard Long witnessed the semi-truck fire, which happened near a diesel fuel loading station.
Two men tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but their efforts proved fruitless. The fire grew too fast and spread too quickly, sending black, gray and white smoke billowing skyward. It was visible from miles away.
The cab was gone in minutes.
“It melted metal real fast,” Long said. “It was like something from ‘Star Wars.’”
Morris added: “We heard a boom, and you could feel it and then some more booms.”
He speculates the booms were from tires blowing.
When the fire reached the trailer, fire “shot out like a flame thrower,” Morris said.
The truck reportedly was carrying tomato plants.
The truck driver was outside his rig when the fire started. He declined to comment.
Morris was upset when he learned that the brush fires along the freeway were arson.
“That’s crazy,” he said.
Some freeway ramps in Marysville, including busy Fourth Street, had to be temporarily closed because of flames. Tuesday’s troubles highlighted the concerns of local fire departments, who for weeks have been warning of increased fire danger due to the unusual hot, dry weather.
“This is truly why we are emphasizing no fireworks this Fourth of July,” Maloney said.
The fires were reported as far north as Arlington, the Stanwood I-5 exits and the Skagit County line.
One brush fire burned north of Smokey Point, between Smokey Point Boulevard and I-5, Silvana Fire Chief Keith Strotz said. The fire was about 10 feet by 10 feet when he arrived. It quickly grew to nearly 700 feet wide, fueled by grasses and blackberry bushes. Part of the guardrail also burned up. Crews closed down Smokey Point Boulevard for a time because of poor visibility from the smoke, he said.
Another brush fire was extinguished north of Stanwood, said Scott Johnston, a battalion chief with the North County Regional Fire Authority. That fire was about 10 feet by 20 feet.
His Stanwood-based department called in extra crews Tuesday due to so much activity, he said.
Those caught in the stalled traffic could be seen standing outside their cars along the southbound lanes of I-5. They were craning their necks to see how far the tangle stretched. One man climbed on the hood of his Jeep for a better look. Others stood on tiptoes.
From the 12th Street NE overpass in Everett, Assistant Fire Marshal Eric Hicks could see the fires were spaced hundreds of feet apart, he said. Crews still were mopping up hot spots into mid afternoon.
There were at least five fires in that stretch. Most of the fires were spaced less than a quarter-mile apart, Axtman said.
Late in the afternoon, Marysville and Everett firefighters could be seen clawing at the blackened earth with Pulaskis and hosing down the hot spots. The grass was gone, exposing a few flattened aluminum cans tossed from passing cars.
Marysville firefighters worked that site from the highway. Everett teams maneuvered a hose between empty boat trailers in a gravel parking lot from Dagmar’s lot.
Charred gashes measuring 10 feet to half a football field could be seen in less than a one-mile stretch. One reached an “Entering Everett” sign.
Another brush fire was reported earlier in the day along Highway 526, in the area of Evergreen Way, Hicks said. It was not believed that fire was connected to the suspected arsons.
Photographer Mark Mulligan contributed.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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