Washington wildfires down but not out

YAKIMA — Although the smoke is clearing from two large wildfires in Kittitas County, firefighters will be dealing with the fires for weeks to come. A few will monitor it for months, since forest fires are likely to smolder on until the first snows fall.

The 12,667-acre Snag Canyon Fire barely grew last week, thanks in part to cool, wet weather, and containment stands at 76 percent. To the west, the 894-acre South Cle Elum Ridge Fire is considered 77 percent contained.

That might sound like the work is almost done, but it’s not. Slightly more than 1,000 people continue to work on the two fires.

“Even once we have 100 percent containment, that doesn’t mean the fire is out,” said Don Jaques, spokesman for the fire management team.

Containment measures the secure lines firefighters build to stop the fire’s advances and become buffer zones of blackened ground in which everything that could burn has already done so.

But large fires like the Snag Canyon Fire often continue to burn deep inside that perimeter until the first heavy snows finally extinguish every flame.

Before that snow or a heavy fall rain arrives, local firefighters will continue to keep an eye on the fire, Kittitas Valley fire Chief John Sinclair said.

The firefighters on the two fires are part of a Type 1 Incident Management Team — the country’s top tier wildfire management with the most experience and the most resources. Once they believe the fires’ perimeters are secure, they’ll go home or on to the next fire and hand these two back to local firefighters, Jaques said.

“The team typically buttons these things up pretty good. When they hand it back to the locals, they have done significant work,” Sinclair said. “But they are not mopping up the entirety of the fire footprint, so deep in the interior you are still going to have fire.”

Unlike a clear cut, wildfires rarely burn through every tree or bush in their path. Pushed by wind and terrain, the flames can skip around, leaving green clumps of survivors on a largely blackened landscape.

“People get an idea in their mind that everything has burned, that it’s a moonscape, but that’s not the case,” Jaques said.

These surviving patches provide the fuel that keeps the fire burning long after the firefighters go home.

“You just have to let nature consume the fuel when it’s in the interior, and it’ll do that until the snow flies,” Sinclair said.

Within the interior, small teams of firefighters will patrol, looking for still-smoldering stumps or trees that could flare back up. Handheld heat-detecting devices can help them identify these hot spots.

Known as mop-up work, they extinguish flames by dumping water or digging up stumps and burying them, said Janet Pearce, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

Both fires were started by lightning strikes. The Snag Canyon Fire began Aug. 2; the Cle Elum Ridge Fire began five days later.

To date, it has cost $12.4 million to fight the Snag Canyon Fire and $4.6 million has been spent on the South Cle Elum Ridge Fire. Final costs will depend on how long fire crews will need to stay in the field.

How long crews spend mopping up and patrolling varies, depending on the fire size and terrain.

Once all that work is done, Sinclair said, the local fire district will continue to check on the southern perimeter to protect the homes along the fire’s border.

It’s a small part of their job and budget, he said, but one they have lots of experience with after several large fires have burned in Kittitas County in recent years. Flare-ups near the perimeter are rare, Sinclair added, but they’d rather be safe then sorry.

“Say we’ve got a wind event, we’ll go out and check that we’re not getting any kind of embers that are going to blow across the line,” Sinclair said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.