CHELAN – A wildfire that had been threatening the rural community of Stehekin has calmed down and is no longer considered a danger to the town, fire officials said Monday.
Firefighters used explosives to build a containment line to the north of the Flick Creek fire on Sunday, said Terry Knupp, a spokeswoman for the Chelan Ranger District of the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests.
The fire has burned an estimated 3,500 acres, or about 5 square miles, in steep terrain on the east shore of central Washington’s Lake Chelan. Stehekin is at the lake’s northern tip, reachable only by boat, horse, seaplane or on foot.
Half of the fire was burning in the park service’s Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and half in the Wenatchee National Forest.
The blaze was caused by a small campfire that a woman started in the national forest, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday. Gregoire said it was not clear if the woman, who was not identified, could face criminal charges.
Gregoire and other officials also pleaded with residents of Stehekin to create a local fire district, which could be used in the future to marshal state resources to a fire.
Gregoire said the area’s lack of an official agency makes it a “no man’s land” for firefighting: “Nobody has jurisdiction and nobody has responsibility for Stehekin.”
“I declared the emergency and I opened up the checkbook with no authority, candidly … but I just could not see the risk to human lives that was at stake there,” she said.
The state Department of Natural Resources also got authority over the weekend to charge the federal government for the use of helicopters to battle the blaze. The DNR now has clearance to spend $8.1 million on the Flick Creek fire, Gregoire said.
Farther north, about 680 firefighters continued to battle the Tripod and Spur Peak fires, which together have burned more than 45 square miles northeast of Winthrop in far north-central Washington.
The fires were burning about five miles southwest of the town of Conconully.
The fire had been advancing on the town fairly steadily until the weekend, but on Monday was staying in one spot where firefighters were gaining confidence they could contain it, fire information officer Jim Archambeault said.
Firefighters also were working with the town’s residents to set up sprinkler systems and remove brush from around their homes as a precaution, he said.
The region was still very dry, but temperatures were cooler and the wind, which had posed problems during the weekend, died down Monday, Archambeault said.
“Things are a little more stable, which is a good thing,” he said.
About 40 miles northeast of Entiat, the Tinpan fire had burned more than 5 square miles of sub-alpine trees since it was started July 7 by lightning. The fire was not contained Monday.
“If we can keep the temperature down and the winds going in the right direction, we should be able to get out of these four large fires,” Gregoire said. “If they turn on us, then we could have a considerable problem.”
Meanwhile, the 250-acre Bear Gulch fire between Lake Cushman and the southwest face of Mount Rose in the Olympic National Forest was 30 percent contained.
There are about six weeks left in the state’s fire season, and people must continue to use caution, said Pat McElroy, the state forester.
Gregoire added that she has approved a U.S. Forest Service request to make 500 National Guard troops available to fight fires on federal forest land in the state if needed.
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