Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

COLTON — The Steptoe Canyon Fire was contained on July 25 after torching 2,605 acres.

A handful of firefighters continued mopping up hotspots for a couple days to finish extinguishing the fire.

The fire started after a lightning storm on July 22 near Steptoe Canyon Road about 5 miles southwest of Colton.

Four structures were threatened but aviation drops of fire retardant prevented their losses, according to Walter Escobar, incident commander for the SE Washington Interagency Team.

The fire expanded down the drainage toward the Snake River and down the ridge toward Wawawai and Steptoe Can...