LC VALLEY - Lightning and wind set the Valley ablaze Monday night, leaving fire resources spread thin.

The first in a series of fires erupted near Eagle Transfer and Storage in north Lewiston.

Lightning struck a power pole in a field between Eagle and the Coca-Cola plant. John Prickett, who lives nearby, said he saw the fire ignite. Prickett said he was watching the wind tear apart his tree, when he saw the flash of light on the power pole. The sparks then started grass on fire and the resulting wildfire spread quickly to the east.

A full arsenal of 19 Lewiston firefighters was called to the scene, along with a Clarkston engine. Two trailers and a pile of wood palettes were burned and the Eagle warehouse suffered minor damage, but no people were injured and the fire was kept from spreading to other nearby businesses and homes. Spot fires were also popping up on the Lewiston levee.

At the same time, Asotin County was busy dealing with a wildfire just west of Clarkston. Asotin County Fire Chief Noel Hardin said the investigation into the cause and size of that fire is ongoing, but they assume lightning ignited it.

It started near Evans Road, and high winds blew it back toward the city. City of Asotin and Clarkston had fire crews on hand and later got help from Garfield County and Whitman County.At about 9:00 p.m., firefighters said the steady rain really calmed things down. No one was injured and no structures were threatened.

Later in the night, it was smoke at an LCSC apartment complex that led to another fire call. Lewiston Battalion Chief Steve Repp said it was an electrical problem that filled the top floor of the College Place Apartments on 4th Street with smoke.

After fighting their wildfire, Asotin County sent six people to aid the 21-person Lewiston crew at College Place. Repp said the fire sprinkler system did it's job and knocked down much of the smoke. No was was injured.

"There were only two rooms occupied," said Lewiston Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Repp. "There were no injuries. Both rooms were evacuated quickly, and they have other places to stay tonight."

Asotin County and Lewiston Fire Departments were struggling for resources as they tried to help each other out.

"We were just about as skinny as we could get last night," said Lewiston Fire Chief Gordy Gregg on Tuesday. "But we were able to handle it, and I would tell you that we were pretty fortunate."

Fortunate that there wasn't a bigger breakout of fires.

The call to Eagle Transfer, and a report of smoke at LCSC's library put Lewiston's entire on-duty force to work. And that was just the beginning.

"Simultaneously we have more power pole fires and trees fires that were gong on," said Gregg. "Again at the same time. Because all of our response was at Eagle Transfer, for the entire city, we called back our personnel. They came back and manned the stations, so they were the ones responding to those fires."

Gregg said they don't have damage estimates yet, but that a night like Monday night is rare. The good news is no one was injured, and a full crew, while exhausted, was back on duty Tuesday.

"The guys that ended up responding Monday night, that we called back, is the shift that's at work today," said Gregg. "So, they're real tired today, but we need everybody to understand that, rest assured, we'll be there."