OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — The fire in the Duckabush Valley has expanded to more than 150 acres and is expected to continue to burn in the Olympic Mountain wilderness for at least the next few days.
A regional incident command team is expected to take control of fire management from the Hood Canal Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service at noon today, said Donna Nemeth, Olympic National Forest spokeswoman.
Fire teams already include more than 100 firefighters and two helicopters, she said.
The fire in The Brothers wilderness, located 10 miles southwest of Brinnon and about 14.5 miles southeast of Port Angeles, is burning among Douglas fir, hemlock and red cedar second-growth, with old-growth trees scattered among them.
“It’s still quite a way from the Olympic National Park,” Nemeth said.
Nemith did not have an exact distance between the fire and the park’s eastern boundary, but she said park representatives attended a meeting between Hood Canal and the regional fire team Monday afternoon.
Much of the work Monday went into planning for aerial firefighting, including locating helicopter emergency landing sites and finding locations to collect water, Nemeth said.
Jupiter Lake No. 3 was selected for helicopters to dip for water, she said.
Firefighting efforts have been hampered by steep, inaccessible terrain and large amounts of brush and organic fuel on the ground.
Smoke is visible in the Puget Sound and Hood Canal areas.
The entire length of the Duckabush Trail from the Brinnon trailhead to the Home Sweet Home Trail junction in Olympic National Park is closed.
Authorities said the fire started Thursday at the site of an abandoned campfire.
West Brinnon residents were watching the blaze uneasily.
“There are many, many trucks and semis down there,” said Karen Sickel, who has a clear view of the fire area from her home.
“Seeing all those trucks there today gives us hope.”
Sickel has watched the fire grow from a small column of smoke Saturday to obscuring the entire valley by Monday morning.
By the time the smoke cleared late Monday afternoon, the visible burn area had increased exponentially from what she saw Sunday evening, she said.
The Big Hump Fire — named after a point on the Duckabush Trail known as the “big hump” — was estimated to have burned 3 acres Saturday morning, but mushroomed to 50 acres within hours and was more than 100 acres Sunday evening.
The fire poses no immediate threat to structures.
_________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.