Quick summary of wildfires in Washington and Oregon

GOES 17 satellite photo, wildfires, 6:36 p.m. PDT July 18, 2021

There are at least five large significant wildfires currently burning in Washington and Oregon. Here is a quick and dirty summary. The acreages were as of Saturday evening, but all were putting up large smoke plumes Sunday easily seen from a satellite.

Working north to south, starting in Washington:

Cub Creek 2 Fire
4,690 acres, 5 miles north of Winthrop, Washington. Numerous residences are threatened. Evacuations are in effect, including for pack animals, mules from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest who were relocated to their winter pasture.

pack mules on the Oka-Wen
pack mules on the Oka-Wen

The north flank of the Cub Creek 2 remains unchecked. Retardant from very large air tankers, water scooping planes, and helicopters with buckets are providing support to firefighters in all locations of the fire. It is burning north pushed by diurnal winds during the day and smoke pushed down south during the late evening and morning.

Cedar Creek Fire
4,080 acres, 12 air miles northwest of Winthrop, Washington, very close to Highway 20. The western perimeter of the fire has burned onto a ridgeline with sparse fuels, slowing the spread. On the southern portion of the fire, growth has been minimal as it burns in subalpine areas with minimal vegetation. The northeastern portion remains the most active.

Summit Trail Fire
2,031 acres, 17 miles west of Inchelium. It has only been burning for three days. On Saturday crews continued to build direct fire line. There was fire growth on the north-northwest side of the fire, and crews scouted Upper Ridge Creek Road, developing a plan to prep and hold the fire along the road.

Due to limited resources the fire continued to spread Saturday to the  northeast at a moderate rate of spread, but that pace increased Sunday.

And in Oregon:

Jack Fire
16,764 acres, on both sides of Highway 138, 9 miles northwest of Clearwater. South of Highway 138, firefighters continue burnout operations to build primary line on the west and southwest flanks. On the southeast side, crews will continue to use heavy machinery to clear and brush out roads used as control lines.

Bootleg Fire
298,662 acres, 30 miles northeast of Klamath Falls. The Bootleg Fire continued to push further into Lake County for a distance of five miles on the north side and ten on the east side. It remains about four to five miles north of Highway 140. It was extremely active again on Sunday, as can be seen in the satellite photo above.

Snake River and Dry Gulch Fires very active in Washington and Idaho

8:30 a.m. MDT July 12, 2021

map Dry Gulch Fire and Snake River Complex
Map of the Dry Gulch Fire and Snake River Complex of fires. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:54 a.m. MDT July 12, 2021.

Wildfires are still very active where three states meet, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Dry Gulch
Nearly all of the spread of the fire over the last two days has been on the southwest side. A mapping flight Sunday night found that it had grown to 55,050 acres, but has moved no closer to Lewiston, Idaho and is still 10 miles southwest of the city. The Dry Gulch Fire merged with the Lick Creek Fire on July 8 and they are now treated as one — Dry Gulch.

On Sunday evacuation warnings ( Level 2, get set) were in effect, but no actual evacuation orders (Level 3, leave now). (Very Brief Editorial: We need a national system of evacuation criteria that is uniform across the country, makes sense, and does not require training or explanation!)

Dry Gulch Fire, July 9, 2021.
Dry Gulch Fire, July 9, 2021. InciWeb photo

The Dry Gulch Fire has been managed by a Type 2 Incident Management Team, but a Type 1 Team will assume command Monday, July 12.

Resources assigned on Sunday evening included 14 hand crews, no helicopters, 52 fire engines, and 4 dozers for a total of 536 personnel.

Snake River Complex
The 54,407-acre fire 12 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho is being managed by a Type 2 Incident Management Team. It is comprised of three fires that burned together, Shovel Creek, Captain John Creek, and Hoover Ridge. The growth over the last two days has been closer to each other as well as to the east and the south. It is bordered on the west side by the Snake River. The greatest spread Sunday was on the south side where the Shovel Creek Fire came close to the Salmon River. The east side of the Hoover Ridge Fire is being held by the Salmon River.

Approximately 438 residences are threatened.

From the Incident Management Team Sunday evening:

On the north end of the fire, resources continue to protect values at risk including primary structures and infrastructure around Waha Lake and Red Bird road. Tactics include a combination of indirect line followed up with burning in Madden Creek and around to the south. In the Craig Mountain area, resources are completing indirect fireline to the north. The Hoover Ridge fire resources continue to secure the northeast corner down to the Salmon River. Resources are still using a point protection strategy to burn around and secure values at risk in both the Salmon and Snake Rivers.

Resources assigned Sunday evening included 3 hand crews, no helicopters, and 6 fire engines for a total of 170 personnel.

Dixie Fire
The 15,323-acre Dixie Fire just east of Dixie, Idaho is not being completely suppressed by the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. It is being managed by a Type 1 Incident Management Team. Resources that are 15% monitoring, 30% confining, 35% point protecting, and 20% suppressing the fire include 8 hand crews, 16 fire engines, and 4 helicopters for a total of 522 personnel. The same team is managing the nearby 898-acre Jumbo Fire. (map)

Washington state DNR has 25 firefighting aircraft this year

Air Tanker 260
Air Tanker 260 scooping water at Castaic Lake December 6, 2017 . Photo by Robert Schwemmer.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources does not have any large air tankers on contract for firefighting this year, but they will have 25 other aircraft working on exclusive use (EU) or hybrid call when needed (CWN) contracts.

Helicopters
Russ Lane, the DNR’s Assistant Wildfire Division Manager for Operations and Aviation, told Fire Aviation that this year they will have their agency’s nine UH-1H helicopters and one from Chelan County Fire Department that they lease and operate. They will also hire a tanked UH-1 that will be supplied by High Performance Helicopters Corp. on a 60-day Mandatory Availability Period (MAP) call when needed contract.

Washington State DNR UH-1H helicopter
Washington State DNR UH-1H helicopter. DNR photo.

They will have two Type 1 helicopters on 89-day EU contracts — a tanked UH-60 from High Performance and a KMAX from Columbia Basin Helicopters.

Multi engine water scoopers
Currently the DNR has two Aero-Flite CL-415’s working; T-260 and T-262. On July 9 a Bridger Aerospace CL-415EAF, Tanker 283, came on duty fresh from the paint shop and carding. A second Bridger Aerospace CL-415EAF, Tanker 284, is expected on July 27. All four were picked up on CWN with 60-day MAPs. (More about the CL-415EAF aircraft.)

Tanker 283, CL-415EAF, N418BT
Tanker 283, CL-415EAF, N418BT. Bridger Aerospace photo.

Single-engine Air Tractor 802F water scoopers 
Three amphibious scoopers from Dauntless and two from Air Spray are working now.

Air Attack
There are two AC-500 air attack ships on 89-day EU contracts, and one “surge” Kodiak from Bridger Aerospace on a 60-day MAP CWN arrangement.

Air Tractor AT-802F Fire Boss. Air Tractor photo.
Air Tractor 802F Fire Boss. Air Tractor image.

Wildfires in Western Idaho and Southeast Washington continue to grow

Wildfires in Southeast Washington and Western Idaho
Wildfires in Southeast Washington and Western Idaho. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 4:12 a.m. PDT July 10, 2021.

The fires in Western Idaho and Southeast Washington were very active Friday and into the night.

The Shovel Creek Fire east of the Snake River merged with the Captain John Creek Fire just to the north, 13 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho. It is being managed with the Hoover Ridge Fire 5 miles to the east in what is now the Snake River Complex of fires. Together, they have burned 31,900 acres. On Saturday the Type 3 Incident Management Team is transitioning to the Type 2 Northern Rockies Team 4. The plan for Saturday is to establish an operational strategy and continue point protection. Boats are being used to shuttle firefighters on the Snake River.

(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the wildfires in Southeast Washington and West Idaho, including the most recent, click HERE.)

Snake River Complex fires
Snake River Complex July 9, 2021. InciWeb photo.

The Dixie Fire is just east of the small community of Dixie, Idaho, east of Road NF-222. Friday night it was mapped at about 13,000 acres. It is burning in mixed conifer stands with 40-60% standing dead trees in some areas. Old fire scars with heavy accumulations of down fuels are slowing the fire but are not barriers to fire spread. Long range spotting is occurring. If the fire activity increases, the incident management team said, it could prompt structure protection in the communities of Dixie and Comstock, and along the Salmon River at the Jim Moore and Whitewater Ranches.

The 1,300-acre Jumbo Fire is seven miles west of the Dixie Fire. They are both being managed by the Type 1 Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 2.

In Washington the lightning-caused Dry Gulch and Lick Creek Fires 9 miles southwest of Lewiston, Idaho merged and are now known as the Dry Gulch Fire. It  has burned about 38,000 acres, an increase of 13,000. Structures are threatened and evacuations are in effect. Most of the growth Friday was to the southwest where it is moving into higher elevations and heavier vegetation.

Batterman Fire prompted evacuations east of Wenatchee, Washington

9:10 a.m. PDT July 5, 2021

Batterman Fire map Washington Wenatchee
Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Batterman Fire as late at 4:01 a.m. PDT July 5, 2021.

The Batterman Fire spread rapidly Sunday after it started at about 12:15 p.m. PDT running through grass and brush. The fire is east of Wenatchee, Washington about a mile east of the Pangborn Memorial Airport. It was pushed to the east by a wind that increased throughout the afternoon from the west and northwest at 15 to 22 mph after 5 p.m. while the relative humidity was in the teens and the temperature topped out at 97 degrees.

Monday morning evacuation orders (Level 3) were in effect for Rock Island Grade Road.

On Sunday helicopters and airtankers dropped water and retardant in areas inaccessible to engines. As of Monday at 8 a.m. no structures had been destroyed.

Batterman Fire Washington Wenatchee
Batterman Fire, July 4, 2021. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office photo.

The Southeast Washington Type 3 Interagency Incident Management Team led by Incident Commander Walter Escobar assumed command of the incident Sunday night. Firefighters worked through the night on structure protection and to secure the perimeter near Rock Island Road.

On Monday more firefighting resources from out of the area are expected to arrive.

Batterman Fire Washington Wenatchee
Batterman Fire, July 4, 2021. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office photo.

The forecast for Monday is for 93 degrees, winds out of the northwest at 8 to 16 mph, with 21 percent relative humidity.

Batterman Fire Washington Wenatchee
Batterman Fire, July 4, 2021. InciWeb photo.

My first pair of Whites

My last pair of Whites boots
My last pair of Whites

The photo above is my last pair of Whites boots.

Here is the story of my first pair.

Back in the old days, before 2015, Forestry Technicians had to pay for their own boots. During my second year with the Forest Service, my initial year on the El Cariso Hot Shots, our first large fire that year in 1970 was the Safety Harbor Fire at Lake Chelan, Washington. After flying from Southern California in a Forest Service DC-3 we were hauled on a bus to a boat launch on the west side of the lake. From there we got on a sightseeing boat usually used for tourists, which took us across to the other side, where we were the initial attack on the fire. (Yeah, I KNOW. From Southern California, we were the first Forestry Technicians on the fire. Needless to say, there were a bunch of fires burning in the area and the locals were a little busy.)

Safety Harbor Fire boat ride El Cariso Hot Shots
El Cariso Hotshots and other firefighters on a boat being ferried across Lake Chelan to the Safety Harbor Fire in 1970. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

After two or three weeks we had a day of R&R. Some of us, including myself who had found that our boots were inadequate for Hotshot work, were taken to a shoe store in a nearby town. It was early in the season and most of us had very little money, and no credit cards. Our crew Superintendent, Ron Campbell, worked with the Finance Section to arrange for a Commissary-like process for us to buy new boots and for the funds to come out of our pay.

We all proudly walked out of the store wearing new, shiny Whites — which at the time was the preeminent footwear for firefighters and loggers. I think I paid $65 for mine, a week’s pay.

Later I heard that when the paperwork was being processed, one of the clerks in the office wondered why firefighters were buying white boots. “Won’t they just get dirty?” she said.

El Cariso Hotshots Safety Harbor Fire
El Cariso Hotshots at a spike camp on the Safety Harbor Fire in Washington, 1970. We had just been chased out of a canyon after the fire blew up, like it did every afternoon around 2 p.m.  In the foreground is the tub for heating “Continental Cuisine”  frozen hairnet-bag meals. Photo by Bill Gabbert.