‘It’s weird to have that many fires ... along a freeway without someone seeing something’

What sparked a series of small brush fires Monday evening along Interstate 5 near Lake Samish in southern Whatcom County is a bit of a mystery.

“It’s unusual to have four separate fires along the highway at the same time and not be sure of what the cause is,” South Whatcom Fire Authority Chief Dave Ralston said. “There were no reports of anyone throwing things. It’s weird to have that many fires burning in a row along a freeway without someone seeing something.

“Sometimes you have a truck dragging a chain or something like that, and it sparks and starts little fires like this, but we didn’t get any reports of that.”

South Whatcom crews were sent to a small brush fire in the median of I-5 at about milepost 243 at 5:52 p.m., according to Pulse Point.

As crews responded to the scene, Ralston said reports of more, larger fires, including a car fire, were called out — all in the I-5 corridor between milepost 245 and the Skagit County line. In response, more crews were sent, including an engine company from Bellingham Fire Department and one from Alger. A tender crew from North Whatcom Fire and Rescue and one from the Department of Natural Resources also responded to help provide water for mop up.

Ralston said South Whatcom crews tackled the fire burning in the median near milepost 245.

“That fire had spread up the bank between the northbound and southbound lanes and was working its way up to the northbound lanes,” Ralston said. “It went very quickly. People who reported it stayed and watched and said they couldn’t believe how fast it moved up the hill.”

Ralston said a couple of the other fires were put out by passersby before fire fighters showed up, and when those hot spots started to smolder, crews quickly kept them from growing. No car fire was located, Ralston said.

All told, Ralston estimated the fires combined to scorch approximately an acre, and DNR crews remained on scene overnight to make sure the areas didn’t flare up and increase that total.

“It serves as a quick reminder to make sure no one is throwing any lighted materials out the window along the freeway,” Ralston said. “Hopefully they’re already not doing that, anyway. With the dry conditions, any type of fire, even small fires, can grow really quickly. People need to know to be really careful.”