Friday, March 29, 2024

Canyon Creek fire contained, hot spots will be monitored

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PATEROS – It’s all over but the monitoring of leftover hot spots on the Canyon Creek fire that started a mile north of Carlton on Saturday, July 15, and expanded to 1,200 acres before being contained Tuesday evening, July 18.
Evacuations alerts have been lifted, State Route 153 is open and engine patrols and the fire lookout will continue to watch the site after the Type 4 Incident Management Team departed the site last Sunday, July 23.
Hot spots remain within the fire footprint but since they are well within the fire perimeter, firefighters will be used sparingly for safety reasons.
“Extinguishing hot spots that do not pose a threat to containment lines would present unnecessary risk to fighters,” said Incident Commander, Kathleen Russell, in a media release on Saturday, July 22. “We must consider exposure of firefighters to risk versus the benefit of the actions we are asking them to take.”
Since the interior pockets of combustible fuel are well within the containment perimeter, “exposing firefighters to work in steep, treacherous canyons would not provide worthwhile benefit,” Russell said.
Trustee crews from the Washington Department of Corrections stepped in to continue mop-up and fire line suppression repair as agency firefighters were relieved.
Those crews, the incident command post and other support infrastructure left the area last Sunday. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) personnel will patrol the fire throughout the summer, “supported by the sharp eyes of Lightning Bill from the Leecher Mountain Lookout,” U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer, Shannon O’Brien said.
While the ignition point for the fire appeared to be immediately adjacent to the east side of State Route 153, the cause of the fire remains under investigation, said sources at the DNR’s Northeast Region headquarters in Colville.
DNR crews in Twisp, 11 miles to the north of the fire were the first to responds to the blaze that broke out just after noon on July 15. A water tender based at the Pateros fire hall was dispatched at 12:45 p.m. to provide support.
Fire conditions remain high throughout the area as weather forecasts call for more hot weather in the weeks ahead.

Canyon Creek, fires, pateros

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