OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The fire burning in the Queets River valley has grown to about 800 acres, a late night infrared mapping flight has discovered.
,
The National Fire Service said the fire remains north of the Queets River, and the west flank is holding. It continues to move to the east-northeast and into the high country, where the terrain is exceptionally steep and inaccessible.
Helicopters used bucket drops of water to cool and slow the fire in the northwest corner.
Monday night’s reconnaissance flight revealed the fire’s exact location, which was mapped at 798 acres.
This represents an additional 150 acres after Monday afternoon’s flight, which mapped the fire at 650 acres.
The weather forecast calls for a chance of showers over the mountains tonight, and progressively warmer temperatures closer to the weekend.
Lightning is possible later in the week.
A National Incident Management Organization team is scheduled to arrive Wednesday to assume responsibility for managing the Paradise Fire, which will allow local fire managers to focus on potential new fires. Additional crews/modules will be ordered as the need arises.
Current resources include two crews, two helicopters, one water tender and support personnel. A total of 67 people are assigned to the fire.
Earlier report
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The fire burning in Queets River valley reached 650 acres Monday, and is expected to burn for another four months or longer, according to Olympic National Park officials.
The daytime temperature in the area reached 80 degrees Monday, and hot, dry weather is expected to continue through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Todd Rankin, the park’s fire management officer, told about 20 people at a public information meeting Monday night in Port Angeles that forecasters have told him that additional lightning storms are possible this weekend, increasing the risk of additional fires starting in the area.
“If we have a thunderstorm set up over this fire, it could jeopardize the west side,” Rankin said.
A community meeting in Forks is scheduled tonight at 6 p.m. at the state Department of Natural Resources conference room, 411 Tillicum Lane.
The Jefferson County fire — named the Paradise Fire because it started near Paradise Creek — is inside Olympic National Park on the north floodplain of the Queets River valley, 13 miles northeast of Quinault.
The fire has been moving northeast with the afternoon winds, which primarily have pushed the fire deeper into the Queets River valley, Rankin said.
If it remains in the valley, it will be trapped by natural barriers, including rocky cliffs and glaciers located on the ridges overlooking the valley, he said.
Rankin said firefighters’ primary mission will be to keep the fire from moving south, across the Queets River, or west of Bob Creek, where he said firefighters are working to use the creek’s natural barriers to keep it from moving into the lowlands and into other river drainages.
“We have a high probability of success [in keeping the fire trapped in the valley] if we keep it from moving west,” he said.
Firefighters are working in a dangerous, steep and heavily vegetated area in the Queets Rain Forest deep inside the park’s boundaries.
“It’s unprecedented. This area only burns every 300 to 500 years, or even every 1,000 years,” Rankin said.
Rankin said the “lightning tree” that was struck around May 17 to start the fire was located by firefighters, and said the evidence there shows the fire “incubated” in deep duff, where it can survive for months without showing smoke or heat.
Once warmer, drier conditions emerged, the fire moved into the treetops 70 feet above the forest floor and burned dry lichen, which then dropped burning embers into the deep duff below, he said.
He said the fire smoldered for nearly a month before it emerged, and the park received multiple calls June 14 reporting smoke plumes, including reports from airliners flying over the park and West End residents.
When the fire was located by a pilot flying through the valley, the blaze had already scorched 300 acres.
Typically when fires in the park are located, they are no more than a quarter-acre and rarely grow much beyond that size, Rankin said.
However, the record dry conditions have allowed the fire to grow faster than usual, he said.
May and the first half of June have been the driest ever recorded in Forks-area weather records that go back to 1895, and the Olympic Mountains snowpack was almost nonexistent.
_________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
