Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA — More than a dozen lightning-caused fires were burning on the east slopes of the Cascades in Yakima and Kittitas counties late Sunday.
None of the fires posed an immediate threat to homes or buildings, but a number of trails were closed in the Naches and Cle Elum ranger districts.
The largest — actually a collection of five fires collectively known as the Jolly Mountain Fire — had burned an estimated 327 acres in rugged timberland about 13 miles northwest of Cle Elum.
The same Friday afternoon lightning storm that started that fire also ignited 13 fires in the Naches Ranger District west of Yakima. Three of those fires were contained Friday night, but the other 10 are still burning in remote areas of the Norse Peak and William O. Douglas wilderness areas.
A flight over those areas on Sunday indicated the fires were somewhat less active than on Saturday, but there was still enough heat to produce smoke and to continue a slow, but steady, growth, according to a news release issued early Sunday evening by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
“These fires will be fully suppressed; however, difficult access and firefighter safety concerns will likely deter immediate direct action. The strategy is to prevent these fires from coming down out of the wilderness to State Route 410 and threatening the structures and improvements adjacent to it,” the news release said.
Fire officials said all of the fires are still estimated to be at least 1 mile within the wilderness areas and don’t pose an imminent threat to buildings or other property outside the wilderness areas.
As a precaution, however, fire crews were installing fire hoses and sprinklers around cabins in the Union Creek Recreation Residence Tract of State Route 410 about 40 miles west of Naches.
Previously, the cabin owners took the initiative and participated in a Fire Wise project with the Yakima County Fire Marshal’s Office to reduce fuels around their cabins for just such an event, according to the Forest Service.
While a large number of fires across the West has exhausted nearly all firefighting resources, local fire managers say they believe they have enough manpower and equipment to cope with the fires burning on the Naches Ranger District.
But firefighters caution drivers on State Route 410 near the fire should be alert to possible smoke settling in the valley bottom, especially late at night or in the early morning hours.
About 70 firefighters are on scene Sunday at the Jolly Mountain Fire in Kittitas County, which was at zero containment Sunday evening.
Steep slopes, rugged terrain and the distance from any roads limit access to the fires. The potential complexity of the fires caused commanders on Sunday to escalate from a local Type 3 Incident Management Team to a Type 2 Team, which has additional specialists capable of dealing with larger, more complicated fires.
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