Oregon Public Broadcasting

Crews are trying to get a 10,000-acre wildfire under control northwest of Yakima, in Central Washington. The blaze left three firefighters with minor injuries.

About 200 firefighters have been battling the fire since it began on Sunday. And 200 more are on the way.

Three firefighters suffered smoke inhalation when their fire truck was overrun with flames fanned by the wind. The truck was destroyed but the firefighters have now been released from the hospital.

Dave Leitch is chief of the Yakima County Fire District.

Dave Leitch: "I'm glad I didn't lose any firefighters. I'm OK. You know the fire truck, that's not a problem. Like I said we cannot replace firefighters, we can go buy new trucks, but we can't buy new human being firefighters."

Leitch says he doesn't know yet what started the fire. But he says it was fueled by changing winds and grass that grew high because of the wet spring.