Two wildfires, ranging from 1 acre to 4 acres, are still burning but being monitored in northern Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District near Packwood, Glenoma, Morton and Ashford. No roads or trails are closed as a result.
The U.S. Forest Service reports the fires were caused by lightning.
The 4-acre blaze, called the Goat Rocks fire, was located around 9:40 a.m. on Aug. 9. Six firefighters repelled from helicopters that day to tackle the fire and the helicopter dropped water, the U.S. Forest Service reports. Crews worked 60% of the fire, but 40% couldn’t be accessed because the proximity to cliffs made it unsafe for crews.
The fire is going out as it goes toward the cliffs, but if it grows, crews will go out again once it’s safe, the department reports. No smoke has been visible since Saturday.
The 1-acre fire, called the McCoy Peak fire, was located around 2:45 p.m. on Aug. 10. The fire had no visible smoke as of Wednesday. Crews dug a roughly 1-foot wide perimeter around the wildfire to remove material like leaves and fallen branches to prevent the fire from spreading. Nearby burning materials and felled damaged trees were also extinguished or removed.
Two fires, 1/10 of an acre each, were extinguished as of Wednesday. One was human-caused and the other was also caused by lightning and was discovered on Aug. 9, the department reported.
The fires are not tracked by the Northwest Interagency Coordination Team, which monitors northwest wildfires, because they are not considered large. Large fires are defined as having incident management team assigned to blazes or hundreds of acres of burning timber or grassland.
Fireworks, barbecue and charcoal grills, and fires outside of mental rings at campsites have been banned in the forest since Aug. 8 to prevent possible fires. Fires inside metal rings at certain campsites and portable cooking stoves and propane campfires or lanterns are allowed.
The U.S. Forest Service reports nine out of 10 wildfires nationwide are human caused and can be prevented.
“We are seeing extremely hot and dry conditions on the forest,” said Dirk Shupe, fire management staff officer in an Aug. 5 news release. “With a dry summer ahead, we want to limit the unnecessary risk caused by abandoned or escaped campfires to our local communities, and the recreating public.”
