By Dee Camp
Chronicle staff

     A wind storm, with gusts as high as 59 mph in the Omak area, pounded Okanogan County the afternoon of July 10, downing trees and power lines, setting off several fires and fanning the flames of a fire already under way.
     "We've got downed power lines all over this county," said sheriff Frank Rogers a little before 7 p.m. "It's crazy."
     Okanogan County PUD chief engineer Derek Miller said some 1,500 customers from Oroville to Brewster were without power.
     "There were as many PUD trucks out there as fire trucks," said Rogers.
     Firefighters tackling a fire on Cayuse Mountain that began July 9 saw the wind whip flames even more, according to Rogers.
     No evacuation notices are in place, though some residents of the area were alerted to possible evacuations earlier in the day, he said.
     Rogers said the wind storm downed a power line and started a fire on Swanson Mill Road northeast of Tonasket, leading the sheriff's office to warn Havillah-area residents. Two retardant bombers and several helicopters were pulled off the Cayuse fire to douse the Swanson Mill fire, he said.
     He said his deputies worked traffic control and gave fire notifications in the Swanson Mill area, but by 7 p.m. had been pulled off. A few returned to the Cayuse fire area for traffic control, he added.
     One deputy remained in the Havillah area where a line was down and arcing. The PUD was notified, Rogers said.
     Downed and arcing power lines touched off fires on Spring Coulee Road west of Okanogan, behind North Cascades National Bank in south Omak and in Oroville. All were extinguished quickly, according to Rogers.
     Omak fire crews were called about 4:25 p.m. to a fire off Highway 155 southeast of Omak that burned about an acre of brush and threatened a home, said Omak chief Kevin Bowling. While out on that call, Bowling said he spotted another fire.
     A downed line was blamed for the fire, which is burning in sagebrush and scattered trees west of the Haley Creek area on the Colville Indian Reservation, said Bowling.
     As of about 7 p.m., that fire had destroyed a barn and was burning in a southwesterly direction, Bowling said.
     Fire management has been turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
     Omak and Okanogan departments were called to North Cascades National Bank in Omak for a brush fire related to the storm. A small area of grass and trees burned, said Bowling and Okanogan chief Gordon Hennigs.
     Okanogan firefighters also were called to Spring Coulee for a small brush fire that was extinguished quickly, said Hennigs. Fire crews were aided by green fields surrounding the fire area.
     Omak was called to the blaze but didn't send anyone, Bowling said.
     "We were totally tapped out," he added.
     The wind storm also downed trees, dropped branches, blew over signs, ripped roofing from buildings and sent garbage cans careening down streets. Bowling said a fireworks stand in east Omak collapsed.
     According to the National Weather Service, the Omak area experienced sustained winds of 28-37 mph and gusts as high as 59 mph.
     The weather service issued hazardous weather, high wind and red flag warnings for the Omak area the afternoon of July 10.
     A red flag warning means critical fire weather conditions are occurring or expected.
     "A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures will create explosive fire growth potential," according to the weather service.
     By about 7 p.m. the wind storm had moved east. Several fires were reported in the Spokane area.