Deadly fires that have been burning in Chelan County, in the state of Washington, have had minimal impact on leading fresh fruit marketer Chelan Fresh - although the group hasn't fully escaped the wrath of the blaze.
According to Tim Evans, general sales manager at Chelan Fresh, one of Chelan Fruit's facilities was affected by the fires, out of the five it produces fruit at. Chelan Fresh markets the 7m-8m boxes produced annually at Chelan Fruit’s six production plants.
'Although a set back, we had a limited amount of fruit affected, which were late storage apples from last fall,' Evans explained.
Despite the threat the fires have brought to the region and beyond, Evans does not expect the new crop to be impacted.
'All of North Central Washington has been impacted by the fires this summer from Wenatchee, north to the Canadian border,' he added. 'We are working through this challenge and it will not affect new crop fruit going to the fall.'
There have been many blazes across Washington state, with the Seattle Times reporting up to 18 large fires burning by the end of Wednesday 19 August - costing the lives of several firefighters and many homes and structures.
In Chelan itself, three large fires have merged to form what is being called the Chelan Complex, although the newspaper reported that firefighters have been able to contain its spread.
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