LIND, Wash. — Washington State University researchers are assessing the losses after a wildfire burned a portion of the dryland research station.

The fire started shortly before 11 a.m. June 27, east of Lind, about half a mile away from the station. It burned a total of 2,100 acres.

The fire reached the station, director Bill Schillinger told the Capital Press. The temperature that day was “105 degrees, and there was a wind out of the east, call it conservatively 10 miles an hour. Just perfect fire conditions.”

The Lind Fire Department responded first.

“They got out there and basically said, ‘This thing is exploding, it’s way beyond our control,'” Schillinger said.

The department called for assistance.

Departments from Ritzville, Connell, Washtucna, Odessa, Ephrata, Moses Lake and farmers with their water trucks responded.

Most of the fire was on sagebrush and pasture, Schillinger said.

It hit the southeast corner of the station and “immediately engulfed” 85 varieties of Austrian pine trees — the 40-year-old world collection, Schillinger said.

“I don’t even know what kind of value you put on that,” he said.

The station also lost 5 acres of winter wheat, 5 acres of stubble and an 8-by-10-foot storage shed used to store irrigation equipment, Schillinger said. “It was “torched.”

No research plots were burned.

The research station also owns the 1,000-acre Neare Estate, part of a farm donated to the state. The fire damaged 140 acres of winter wheat and 170 acres of fallow land, burning the stubble.

Schillinger estimated the wheat, affected by four months without rain and “exceptional drought,” would have yielded 35 to 40 bushels an acre, and produced 4,000 pounds of residue, about 2 tons per acre.

“It’s not just the loss of wheat,” he said. The loss of residue means the ground could erode this winter.

“It goes well beyond the loss of the current wheat crop,” Schillinger said.

Schillinger isn’t certain how long it will take the land to recover. He may look into obtaining weed-free straw to help anchor the ground.

“We haven’t got that far,” he said.

He declined to give an estimate for the damage. 

The fire burned its way from the turnoff to Lind from Highway 395 to the grain elevator in Paha, Schillinger said.

“That whole thing was going,” he said. 

The fire reached the edge of town, up to the Lind Gun Club and grounds for the Lind Combine Demolition Derby, Schillinger said.

It’s not the first brush with fire for the station, Schillinger said. In 1949, the station lost its office building.

“Cause unknown, who knows?” Schillinger said. “Burned during the night.”

Schillinger and the other researchers are grateful for the crews who showed up.

“We at the station would like to give a huge shout-out to all the firefighters and farmers who responded,” he said. “Thank you.”