Crews have steadily increased the containment levels of two wildfires at opposite ends of Lewis County in recent days, with both blazes at more than 70% containment as of Friday afternoon, according to the fire-tracking app Watch Duty and fire officials.
Since the last update earlier this week, the Sage Creek Fire south of Pe Ell on the Pacific County line has grown just an acre and a half from 91.5 acres to 93 acres. Containment levels for the fire have shot up in recent days to 72%. Wahkiakum County Fire District 4 reported via Facebook on Sunday that containment at the time sat at around 25%.
The smaller Backbone Fire in the Cascade foothills of East Lewis County has not grown at all in recent days while containment has also shot up from 26% containment to 89% since the beginning of the week.
Sage Creek Fire
The fire, which was first reported on Thursday, Aug. 20, as a vegetation fire, grew from just a few acres to around 90 in less than a week but since then has slowed significantly. The fire is located south of the unincorporated community of Walville and southwest of Pe Ell and straddles the county line between Lewis and Pacific counties.
Other than brief updates to the containment level of the fire, there have been no major updates to the fire’s status since a Facebook post from Wahkiakum County Fire District 4.
The Sunday post reported that fire growth was slow thanks to good weather and additional resources.
A seven-day forecast for Pe Ell from the National Weather Service shows relatively mild temperatures for the area with a small chance of rain Saturday and again early next week. The report also predicts relatively calm winds in the area, at times rising to as high as 8 miles per hour on Saturday.
Backbone Fire
The fire, which was first reported Wednesday, Aug. 5, and was believed to be caused by lightning strikes, is in difficult-to-access reaches of the area north of Packwood near the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. The fire started at just a couple of acres and slowly grew to its current size over roughly the first week of the blaze. Since then, it has remained at roughly 17 acres in size.
Frequent updates from Watch Duty and Gifford Pinchot National Forest have reported access to the fire as a major challenge. They have also reported that the footprint of the fire has not increased in more than a week, with reported acreage increases due to unburnt patches within the footprint catching fire.
Road and trail closures around the fire previously reported by The Chronicle remain in place and can be found at https://tinyurl.com/3drn8rr8.
An update from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest posted to Facebook on Thursday reported that the increase in containment was mostly on the eastern side of the burning area. Steep and difficult terrain remains a risk both to firefighter safety and fire spread.
“Steep, hard-to-reach terrain remains a significant challenge, with rolling debris posing an ongoing risk of carrying fire to fuels downslope,” reads the Facebook post.
Earlier in the week, the Forest Service had warned that a low pressure weather system could pose a risk of helping the fire grow. However, the Thursday update added that humid and cool weather in the coming days is expected to moderate the fires.
Fire crews have begun to address repairing any damage caused by initial efforts to prevent the fire’s growth and are exploring additional options to prevent the fire’s growth. An Arizona Incident Management team is expected to assume command of both the backbone fire and the High Lava Fires in Skamania County starting Saturday, Aug. 29.
For previous updates on the two Lewis County wildfires compiled by The Chronicle, visit https://tinyurl.com/5x893nmb.
