InciWeb Articles & Incidents for Washington and Oregon

The 4,400 gallon tender pumps water out of the nearby pond into one of two 1,000 gallon tenders. Those smaller tenders drive to a portatank, fills it, usually 300-500 gallons, and move to another portatank. These two smaller tenders keep the 7 portatanks full. By the time the tender returns to refill the portatank, the portatank is near empty or empty. This continues for the entire shift. Saturday 70,000 gallons of water was put on the fire.The water delivery system pulled from the portatank is known as a progressive hose lay and is similar to an irrigation system. Using a variety of valves, the water is pumped out the main hose eventually to the fire. A large 300-500 gallon portable tank, “portatank”, is filled with water. 1.5 inch hoses are connected to the portatank which act as the main feeder hose. Every 200 feet, a one-inch 100 foot long hose is attached. Each 100-foot hose extends into the fire footprint for wetting and extinguishing the hot embers. When needed more 100...

Smoke: Moderate to heavy smoke will be seen in all station locations. This result with unhealthy air quality. Due to weather the smoke from the fires in British Columbia will not impact the analysis area as directly as in the past days. Smoke from the Diamond Creek Fire will continue to produce smoke in the monitoring area. Fire: Moderate fire behavior with uphill runs and spotting. Other: Low winds will not dissipate the smoke in the area. Visitors to the Pasayten Wilderness are reminded to check conditions before embarking and to register at the trailheads, as this information is critical to timely and effective evacuation, should it be needed. See PDF for

SUIATTLE FIRE MORNING UPDATE NORTHWEST INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM 12 Richy Harrod, Incident Commander August 6, 2017 Yesterday’s operations: The humidity increase overnight created a good opportunity for crews to attack the fire yesterday morning. Due to the heavy fuels in the area, mop-up has become an extended effort. Personnel worked hard to extend containment lines to 50% and improve existing lines. Hazard trees and active fire areas were significantly decreased throughout the day. Though the terrain is steep and rugged, hotshot crews were able to prevent the fire from moving up the Tenas Creek drainage. Today’s operations: Yesterday’s weather and operations kept the fire in check overnight. Aviation flew the fire last night and gathered an infrared map of any hotspots. The map showed only heat in the interior of the fire, but confirmed that the fire did not grow over night. Today crews are continuing mop up throughout the perimeter to increase containment. Suppression repair...

Update Saturday, August 5, 2017, 0906 Hours Metaline Falls, WA –The Noisy Creek Fire located on Hall Mountain is now approximately 2,740 acres, burning in heavy timber on steep, rugged slopes. Road Closures: · National Forest System Road No. 2200500 closed from its intersection with NFS Road No. 2200 to its terminus at the Hall Mountain Trailhead. · Sullivan Creek Road No. 2200 closed from just past East Sullivan Lake Campground to Pass Creek Pass. · Harvey Creek Road No. 1935 closed between Sullivan Lake Road and the junction with the Onata Creed Road (Road No. 1935 024). Campground Closures: Noisy Creek Campground is closed. Trail Closures: All travel prohibited on the following:· NFS Trails: Lakeshore Trail No. 504· Noisy Creek Trail No. 588· Hall Mountain Trail No. 540· Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533· Grassy Top Trail No. 503 from Pass Creek Pass to its intersection with Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533· Portions of the Pacific NW Trail are rerouted...

SUIATTLE Fire Northwest Incident management Team 12 Richy Harrod, Incident Commander August 6, 2017 Afternoon Update What does containment mean? Firefighters expose swaths of mineral soil with bulldozers or hand tools to stop fire spread. We call this the fireline; however, the fireline may not be able to contain the fire. Firefighters extinguish all the embers or hot-spots near this swath to lower the potential for the fire to escape. This is called mop-up. Firefighters work to make the swath of mopped-up area wider, so that the fireline is more secure. The topography in the fire area influences how wide the fireline swath needs to be. Mature forests require much wider swaths of fireline compared to grass or sage landscapes. A ground fire will quickly burn through mature forests, but will leave unburned material susceptible to re-ignition; for example older trees, stumps, roots, and tree canopies which were dried by the fire. Firefighters consider the fireline to...

Perimeter surrounds fire. Interior hot

Progressive Hose

Regional smoke will continue to reduce visibility today. This condition hampers and often prohibits utilization of aircraft to work on the fire. If visibility improves to safe levels, firefighters plan to utilize helicopters for precision water drops on the southern end of the fire to prevent it from spreading south into Drake Creek. If the conditions are right, firing operations may begin in an attempt to remove fuels and create a large buffer between the northern edge of the fire and natural barriers. Brushing and felling continues on Billy Goat Road near the trailhead, and scouting continues further south for existing roads that may be used as potential fuel breaks. Structure protection assessments are ongoing along the Methow River northwest of the community of Mazama and along the Chewuch River. Fire managers recognize that the Diamond Creek Fire will likely be a long-term event. It is being managed under a suppression strategy using a mixture of direct, indirect, and point...

Aug 4, 2017 The Burnout Road Fire started Tuesday, Aug 1st. It is located 6 miles southeast of the Lost Lake Trailhead of the Larrabee State Park which is 4 miles south of Bellingham on Chuckanut Drive. It is burning on Washington Department of Natural Resources and private land. The cause is still under investigation. The fire size is estimated at 63 acres. We are optimistic we have 60% containment of a perimeter to completely encircle the burn area. The fire is being handle by the Southeast Washington Interagency Type 3 Team 3, Tony Gilmer is the Incident Commander. Presently there are approximately 150 people working the fire. The fire is currently burning in a pre-commercial timber plantation (smaller sapling trees not yet ready for harvesting) and standing timber. [A Team’s critical support function will be better explained later today in a link on the right side of this page.] The roadway into and out of the fire is narrow and we have marked the road every half mile with...

SUIATTLE FIRE UPDATE NORTHWEST INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM 12 Richy Harrod, Incident Commander August 5, 2017 Yesterday’s operations: The smoke layer moderated fire behavior, reducing temperatures by an estimated 10-15 degrees and winds by 5-10 mph compared to the forecast. Jeff Bouschor, Operations Section Chief reported “We had a real good day.” The northern containment line was extended down into the Tenas Creek, and the crews performed a successful burnout. The crews extended the southern containment line into Tenas Creek and set up a hose line with sprinklers. Hand crews continued to mop up along the containment line east of Forest Road 26. Helicopter operations had quick turn-around times and delivered water to critical areas efficiently. Today’s operations: The humidity increased overnight creating a good opportunity for crews to attack the fire this morning. Due to the heavy fuels in the area, mop-up will take an extended effort. The objective is...

Update Friday, August 4, 2017, 1300 Hours Metaline Falls, WA –The Noisy Creek Fire located on Hall Mountain is now approximately 2400 acres, burning in heavy timber on a steep, rugged slope. Closures: NEW: Harvey Creek Road will be temporarily closed for heavy equipment operations from the intersection with Sullivan Lake Road to the junction with Onata Creek to the east. National Forest System (NFS) Road No. 2200500 is closed from its intersection with NFS Road No. 2200 to its terminus at the Hall Mountain Trailhead. Sullivan Creek Road No. 2200 is closed from just past East Sullivan Lake Campground to Pass Creek Pass. Noisy Creek Campground is closed for public and firefighter safety. All travel is prohibited on the following NFS Trails: Lakeshore Trail No. 504; Noisy Creek Trail No. 588; Hall Mountain Trail No. 540; Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533; Grassy Top Trail No. 503 from Pass Creek Pass to its intersection with Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533. Yesterday...

August 4, 2017, 4 P.M. Suiattle Fire Update A thick band of smoke produced by extensive wildfires in British Columbia moved over the Suiattle Fire on Friday. The smoke filtered the sunlight and produced lower temperatures and relative humidity 10 to 15% higher than forecast. These weather conditions reduced fire behavior and allowed firefighters to continue building suppression lines on the east side of the fire from the north and south toward Tenas Creek. On the west, north and south flanks firefighters and equipment continued to strengthen existing lines to protect the Suiattle River Road (FR26) corridor. In-coming Incident Commander Richy Harrod was able to tour the fire area and was impressed by the amount of work accomplished over the past few days. A Cooperator’s Meeting was held at the Mountain Loop Books and Coffee Shop in Darrington, where stakeholders and agency representatives from the local area were updated on the progress of...

The Diamond Creek Fire is burning in the steep slopes of the Diamond Creek, Dollar Creek, and Lost River drainages in the Pasayten Wilderness. Driven by heavy fuels, prolonged hot and dry weather, and rugged terrain, the fire is approximately 3.5 air miles from the Billy Goat Trailhead and 16 air miles north of the community of Mazama, Washington. The fire remains approximately 8.5 miles [13.6 kilometers] south of the Canadian border. Fire managers are taking suppression actions that use opportunities and natural barriers that protect local values. A successful infrared mapping flight yesterday revealed that over the past two days the fire has grown in the Dollar Creek and Lost River drainages, where heavy dead and down trees are extremely dry and receptive. In an attempt to limit fire spread to the north, heavy helicopters will continue to use precision water drops as conditions and safety allows. Aerial firing operations using a helicopter may be utilized as necessary to...

Take a helicopter tour of the steep and rugged Pasayten Wilderness where the Diamond Creek Fire is burning in the thick and heavy dead and down forest. Listen to Air Attack Bob Madden and Operations Section Chief John Szulc discuss the fire activity and challenges fire personnel face. See first hand the 2003 Farewell Fire scar as well local landmarks including Larch Pass, Two Bit Mountain, Nanny Goat Pass, Dollar Creek, Diamond Creek, Drake Creek and Lost River. Click here or copy and paste this link: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/photograph/5409/0/67436/ If you would like to download this video, please visit: https://vimeo.com/228085386Video credit: PNW2

Aug 3, 2017The Burnout Road Fire started Tuesday, Aug 1st. It is located 6 miles southeast of the Lost Lake Trailhead of the Larrabee State Park which is 4 miles south of Bellingham on Chuckanut Drive. It is burning on Washington Department of Natural Resources and private land. The cause is under investigation. Due to better mapping the fire size is 63 acres as of Thursday morning. The perimeter is mostly complete with a combination of dozer line, hand line, and road surfaces. We are optimistic we have 50% containment. Local initial attack resources handled the fire at first. It is now being handle by Southeast Washington Interagency Type 3 Team 3, Tony Gilmer is the Incident Commander. Presently there are approximately 150 people working the fire. The fire is currently burning in a pre-commercial timber plantation (smaller sapling trees not yet ready for harvesting) and standing timber. It is moving both up slope and being driven by the wind.The roadway into and out of the fire is...

SUIATTLE Fire Update Northwest Incident management Team 12 Richy Harrod, Incident Commander August 4, 2017 Yesterday’s operations: Fire behavior was more active on Thursday than the previous two days. The smoke layer continued to moderate fire behavior in spite of the critical fire weather. The western containment line of the fire was strengthened providing greater protection of Forest Road 26 in anticipation of weekend recreation traffic. Crews continued to make progress on the northern and the southern containment lines. Significant progress was made on the ridgetops of the eastern containment line, partly due to a successful burn out operation in the southeastern corner of the fire. Firefighters continued to mop-up hot spots as opportunities presented themselves. Crews patrolled the fire overnight. Today’s operations: The current heat spell is continuing to dry out fuels. The heat combined with the rugged terrain is also affecting the firefighters ability to directly...

Look under the maps tab for National Forest Fire

August 3, 2017, 4 P.M. Suiattle Fire Update The Suiattle Fire remained relatively quiet on Thursday morning. A heavy smoke layer transported from large Canadian wildfires continued to moderate fire behavior by lowering temperatures and relative humidity. Firefighters are continuing to extend lines toward the northeast and southeast corners of the fire. Although the Suiattle River Road (FS26) remains open to travel for all users, there exists the potential for interfering with firefighting resources especially as we progress toward the weekend. Engines, dozers and crews are using the Suiattle River Road to facilitate their suppression efforts on the Suiattle Fire. However, in the Darrington area there are plenty of other opportunities for recreationists to enjoy State and National Forest lands without interrupting fire activities. Alternate access to the Glacier Peak Wilderness is available via the North Fork Sauk. Other recreation areas nearby include the Mt. Loop Scenic Byway...

Update Thursday, August 3, 2017, 1300 Hours At 1800 on August 2, 2017, NW Incident Management Team 11 under the leadership of Nathan Rabe, Incident Commander, assumed management of the fire. Metaline Falls, WA –The Noisy Creek Fire located on Hall Mountain is now approximately 2400 acres, burning in heavy timber on a steep, rugged slope. Closures: National Forest System (NFS) Road No. 2200500 is closed from its intersection with NFS Road No. 2200 to its terminus at the Hall Mountain Trailhead. Sullivan Creek Road No. 2200 is closed from just past East Sullivan Lake Campground to Pass Creek Pass. Noisy Creek Campground is closed for public and firefighter safety. All travel is prohibited on the following NFS Trails: Lakeshore Trail No. 504; Noisy Creek Trail No. 588; Hall Mountain Trail No. 540; Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533; Grassy Top Trail No. 503 from Pass Creek Pass to its intersection with Hall Mountain-Grassy Top Trail No. 533. Yesterday a new start was located and...