07/25/2026
Please read
Good morning,
Not sure if all of you are aware of the wildfires on the Colville reservation, so am sending an update in a bit, in the meantime here are my comments regarding the Kaiser Canyon fire.
The Kaiser Canyon Fire began on July 16th due to lightning strikes, it has grown significantly since then. Early this morning it has grown to an estimated 104,875 acres, mostly forested lands.
An estimated 12 homes and structures have been lost in the fire, as of yesterday but it could continue to rise given that the fire has not been contained.
The area has been impacted by 5 smaller fires (10,000 acres and less) is Kartar Valley, a farming and/or ranching community (dirt roads) about 30 minutes outside of the nearest town and this fire has continued to assault the community.
The last 2 nights the fire made runs to take out the community but firefighters and family members have stopped it even though the fire did claim more acreage into the Kartar Valley. This is where my family lives and where I grew up and lived until I left for university back in 1988.
On July 13th, a bear caused a small fire and it burned an estimated 282 acres and my brother lost his home. I have been working on getting him a replacement home, a trailer, but the fire is not allowing the electricity company or a well contractor into the area to assess the damage.
Anyway, the area I live at now is being threatened by the fire. Last night around 8:30 pm we were put on Level 3, evacuate now. I spent the night at my home despite the danger but the fire is abt 5 miles from me (that’s my estimate but it is probably closer, hard to determine the exact location on a map cuz of the small mountains and forests).
I will stay here and continue to work on extending my fire line with a couple of w**d eaters but at some point I may have to evacuate my home.
The weather is and always will be the determining factor with wildfires and we are expected to have wind gusts over 20-25 mph, which is fast when it comes to fires.
Outside resources have taken over control of this fire and a smaller one on the east side of the reservation, the Modrite fire.
Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to fight the wildfires on the Colville Reservation.
We have set up a financial donation link, not sure if you’d like a copy but I will email in a bit.
Limlmtx,
Karen Condon, Vice Chair
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
21 Colville Street
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA 99155-0150
[email protected]
509-978-9157 Work Cell
509-322-6204 Personal Cell
