WAITSBURG - A fire on the south end of town was quickly contained early Saturday evening, but not before raising the heart rates of nearby neighbors. Perry Dozier's harvest crew took a break from their work, just south of town, to keep an eye on the black plume of smoke rising over the recently harvested hill of pea stubble to their northwest. Residents on the south ends of Orchard and Main Street, watched from their yards as leaping flames licked the hillside on the far side of Coppei Creek and animals on Gary and Cindy Hofer's farm property were readied for evacuation.

Margaret Terry, who lives adjacent to the fire and watched from her home on the south end of Orchard Street, said she believed a sparking electrical transformer was at fault. "A spark set the Hofer pasture on fire. The wind blew the flames toward our property, but then changed directions and the wildfire started up the hill to the southwest," she said.

Waitsburg Fire Chief Jim Callahan confirmed that the fire was initiated by a power pole on property belonging to Mike and Carla Townsend. The wind- driven fire went through the Hofer's field, and then burned up the hillside toward Dozier's pea field, which was fortuitous, according to Callahan. "Peas don't burn well, especially when they're harvested," he said.

Waitsburg and assisting Columbia County District 3 firefighters had good access and were able to surround the blaze and safeguard nearby outbuildings and homes relatively quickly. Extinguishing the blaze took longer because the hillside - known by locals as Devil's Slide - is somewhat treacherous.

"It's not a cliff, but it's about as close as you can get," said Callahan. "It's soft and steep and we had to be careful to make sure no one got hurt." Firefighters were still visiting the site Sunday afternoon to put down hotspots and flare ups.

Callahan said his crew has been very busy with both local fires and providing mutual aid to Columbia and Walla Walla Counties. "We've have four runs since Saturday afternoon and today," Callahan said on Sunday afternoon. That doesn't include the several trips back and forth to the Hofer fire.

Terry expressed what many likely thought. "While firemen will call this a minor fire, it was truly frightening to witness," she said.