Firefighters continue around the clock work

ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Firefighters continue to work day and night to snuff out the Colockum Tarps fire that has burned more than 80,000 acres since Saturday. So far, the cost of fighting the fire has gone higher than $500,000.

Authorities said Thursday was a turning point in the fire, after mother nature brought cool temperatures and less winds. A fire crew of about 800 people worked to contain the blaze at 35 percent. No new homes have burned down recently, and only a few outbuildings were lost in the past few days.

Officials hope the good, cool weather continues.

"The good news is that the rain overnight didn't get a lot of fire movement from the winds," Peter Frenzen, the fire incident spokesman, said. "The fire actually in many places was blown back where it had burned before so that's helping us because its burning some of those un-burned fuels."

Firefighters are more comfortable getting close to the fire because of damp grass and overnight rains.