A Sleepy Hollow Fire ravaged central Washington state on Sunday afternoon after a record-breaking heat wave in the Northwest helped ignite the flames that triggered the evacuation of several hundred homes.
The fire began outside Wenatchee in Chelan County when parched brush scorched by the triple-digit temperature
highs burst into flames, according to The Washington Post. Winds at 15 miles per hour swept the fire straight towards Wenatchee. No official cause for the fire has been identified yet.
Although no lives were lost during the Sleepy Hollow Fire, two dozen homes and businesses were destroyed across four square miles in this season’s
worst wildfire, according to The Associated Press. Firefighters kept their eyes on the conditions through Monday as they allowed evacuees to return to the ashes of their homes and belongings and the Red Cross shelter at a local high school closed after housing 155 people on Sunday night.
The fire was 10-percent
contained as of Monday night, according to USA Today.
Tom Bryant and his family returned to their crumbling home where they found the charred remains of his once beautiful vintage Shelby Mustang GT 500 sports car, according the AP.
“It hurts, but it's just stuff,” Bryant said.
Shirley Einarsson’s neighbor pounded on her door and woke her up in the middle of the night to warn her as the flames swept towards her house, thus saving her life, according to USA Today. Einarsson later returned to find her beloved home of 45 years completely destroyed by the Sleepy Hollow Fire.
“It's probably really going to hit me harder in a few days when I realize I don't have anything,” Einarsson said. “No point in crying, they were just things. They weren't life.”
Firefighters and their crews are currently keeping their eyes on the area and watching for any further signs of sparks in the scorching hot weather conditions flanked by worrisome winds that could fan them into flames. Meanwhile, a new fire has been reported in the small town of Mansfield about 40 miles northeast of Wenatchee, according to the AP.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.