07/12/2021 Wildfires in and Around Washington

Update 2 (7/13/21): New large fire "Chuweah Creek" north of Coulee Dam, near Nespelem on the Colville Reservation.

Update since posting*: The Dry Gulch Fire has been renamed Lick Creek.

Wildfire season has arrived in the Pacific Northwest and we have a few fires of note in Washington. The largest is the Dry Gulch fire in the SE corner of the state. Much of the smoke from this fire is traveling east today and into Idaho but that was not the case a couple of days ago when monitors from Dayton to Clarkston and surrounding areas registered smoky conditions. Dry Gulch has a Type 1 incident management team assigned meaning it’s recognized as a complex wildfire. We expect a specialist called an Air Resource Advisor to arrive later in the week to provide some extra focus on air quality forecasting for the vicinity. The Green Ridge fire is also burning in the area. Though not in Washington, the Snake River Complex in Idaho is nearby and could cause smoke issues in Washington depending on wind direction.

Dry Gulch. IMT1. 2 mi SW of Asotin, WA. Start 7/7. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 46,352 acres. (+8,129) 20% containment. Active fire behavior. Grass and brush. Structures threatened. Evacuations in effect. Road, trail and area closures. Details on Dry Gulch  available here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7615/

Green Ridge. IMT2. 30 mi E of Walla Walla, WA. Start 7/7. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 175 acres (+32). 0% containment. Active fire behavior. Timber and grass. Road, trail and area closures. Details on Green Ridge available here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7628/

Details on Snake River Complex available here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7636/

Above: Map showing wildfires in the vicinity of SE Washington for 7/12/2021. Bright red spots show where significant heat has been detected by satellite in the last 12 hours.

 In addition, there are two new fires in Washington that are not very large at the moment although they are contributing smoke to the Methow Valley area from Mazama to Brewster and over to Omak. The Varden fire is close enough to the road that the State Dept. of Transportation has closed Hwy 20. Got Facebook? The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Facebook page is a great source for local fire information. https://www.facebook.com/OkaWenNF/

Varden. 5 mi southwest of Mazama, WA. Start 7/11. Monitor/Confine/Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 700 acres. 0% contained. Moderate fire behavior. Timber.

Cedar Creek. 5 mi southwest of Mazama, WA. Start 7/8. Full Suppression. Cause: Lightning. 75 acres. 0% contained. Moderate fire behavior. Timber.

Above: Map showing wildfires in the vicinity of Mazama, WA on 7/12/2021. Bright red spots show where significant heat has been detected by satellite in the last 12 hours.

And there is one more fire in Washington that is causing some trouble. The Burbank fire near Yakima and Selah is impacting travel on I-82. The fire seems to be burning mostly in light brush and grass fuels so is not putting out large amounts of smoke.

Burbank. 8 mi northeast of Yakima, WA. Start 7/10. Full Suppression. Cause: Unknown. 6,000 acres. 10% contained. Extreme fire behavior. Grass and brush. Structures threatened. Evacuations in effect. Road, trail and area closures. Details on Burbank available here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7650/

 

Above: Map showing the location of the Burbank fire on 7/12/2021. Bright red spots show where significant heat has been detected by satellite in the last 12 hours.

So that concludes the summary of significant wildfires in Washington as of today. There are also wildfires all around us from British Columbia, to Oregon, to Idaho but for now at least, most of the smoke from these fires is staying away with the exception of a little high elevation haze visible on the west side of the state, and some haze plus low levels of smoke at the surface in NE Washington.

The best way to help our firefighters this year? Be careful out there so we can keep human caused fires to a minimum!