8/1/2018 Status of Wildfires in Washington

August 1, 2018

Most of the smoke impacts in Washington so far this year have originated from wildfires outside of the state but that is changing as a few local wildfires of some significance develop. One fire in particular is beginning to cause problems - the town of Chelan is experiencing air quality impacts from the Cougar Creek fire today and evacuations are in effect near Entiat. (More info. on Cougar Creek fire can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD589873 )

Cougar Creek Fire. Credit: Don Strand, Fire Behavior Analyst

Fires of Note in Washington right now:

New Fires 

Milepost 90. Wishram, WA. Start 7/31. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 10,000 acres. 20% containment. Active fire behavior. Grass and brush. Evacuations in place.

Ongoing Fires

Cougar Creek. 25 mi W of Chelan, WA. Start 7/29. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 803 acres (+453). 0% containment. Extreme fire behavior. Timber. Trail closures. Structures, cultural, recreation threatened.

Chelan Hills. 2 mi E of Chelan, WA. Start 7/27. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 1,842 acres (+0). 97% containment. Minimal fire behavior. Grass, brush, and timber.  

Warner Gulch. 11 mi SW of Asotin, WA. Start 7/28. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 470 acres. 85% containment. Minimal fire behavior. Grass and brush. Community of Cloverland Ridge, T&E species habitat, timber, wildlife, and agriculture threatened.

HWY 24 Command. 17 mi E of Yakima, WA. Start 7/30. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 1,800 acres (+0). 60% containment. Active fire behavior. Grass and brush. Road and Area Closures.

Sheep Creek. 5 mi NW of North Port, WA. Start 7/30. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 146 acres (+26). 0% containment. Extreme fire behavior. Spotting. Timber. Steep terrain. Timber resources threatened. Dozer line around much of the fire. Finishing line on E side.

Lake Wallula. 5 mi E of Umatilla, WA. Start 7/30. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 12,462 acres. 96% containment. Minimal fire behavior. Grass and brush. Last report on morning briefing unless significant activity occurs.

Important Note

The list of fires above and the map below comes from the local wildland fire Interagency Coordination Center (https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/) which tracks large fires (100+ acres in timber or 300+ acres in grass/brush) and/or incidents with a Type 1 or 2 incident management team assigned. Small fires or new fires won’t show up on their list.