Fire burns Zintel Canyon again. Kennewick officials investigating if a person started it
A fire burned 2.4 acres in Zintel Canyon Friday afternoon.
Now, the Kennewick Fire Department is looking for a person who reported seeing someone start the fire.
Firefighters were called at 1:15 p.m. Friday and arrived to find a large column of black smoke in Zintel Canyon just behind the Kennewick Irrigation District building at 2015 S. Ely St.
The fire was burning uphill from the bottom of the canyon and moving north.
The Kennewick Fire Department use fire engines inside the canyon to keep the fire from advancing toward the KID building.
They used hand tools, hoselines and off-road firefighting vehicles to contain the fire in about 30 minutes and then extinguished it by 3 p.m. The area was patrolled through the night to make sure the fire did not rekindle.
Most of the 68-acre Zintel Canyon Park is natural vegetation. It is a popular area for walking but also has trouble with illegal camping.
The fire there followed a fire Wednesday at another area with natural vegetation popular with walkers and anglers and also used for illegal camping in the Tri-Cities, Washington. That blaze is believed to have been caused by a person and burned six acres on Bateman Island in Richland., closing the island to visitors.
In May, about 30 acres of Zintel Canyon burned and spread to two nearby homes, destroying one and scorching another.
