Firefighters have been kept very busy battling a number of brush fires in Western Washington as our recent warm, dry stretch of summer weather continues.
In Tukwila, a 2-alarm fire scorched some brush along SR-599 near S. 133rd Street Wednesday afternoon. The heavy smoke briefly caused the southbound lanes to close, but firefighters were able to get the upper hand.
Then a short time later, another brush fire broke out along I-5 in Kent near S. 216th Street. Flames burned several trees along the freeway, getting close to a WSDOT traffic camera. That fire spread approximately 200 yards along the shoulder with some flames racing up the hillside and getting close to some homes nearby. Video from Air 4 showed some neighbors trying to put out some brush burning on the other side of their street with a garden hose and buckets of water, but a fire truck arrived a short time and doused the flames.