HOODSPORT — The Bear Gulch 2 blaze has stayed within its 800 blackened acres as crews completed a 100-foot fire line along the eastern edge of the fire.
The latest report on the fire came Friday, when crews completed mop-up operations on the fire line southeast of the Olympic National Park boundary in Mason County.
A sprinkler system along an unnamed drainage channel on the fire’s eastern flank stayed in place as a contingency line. It will remain until significant rainfall occurs.
No rain is forecast for the area through Thursday.
The heavy Sikorsky CH-54 Skycrane helicopter that had dipped 1,600 gallons to 1,700 gallons of water from Lake Cushman at a time and dumped them on the fire was assigned to another blaze.
Personnel and resources also were reduced over the weekend.
Forest Service Road 24 remained closed as rocks continued to fall after being loosened when vegetation was burned away.
Closed areas
Party Rock, origin of the fire, and trails to the North Fork Skykomish River, Wagon Wheel, Staircase Rapids, Mount Rose, Dry Creek and Copper Creek were closed.
Campfires in Olympic National Forest are restricted to approved fire rings in designated campgrounds. Smoking is restricted to developed recreation sites, within vehicles, or on cleared areas of forest roads.
Olympic National Park has banned campfires except for established grates in developed campgrounds, although liquid-fuel backpacking stoves are allowed in wilderness areas.