OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — The Big Hump Fire on the Duckabush River in the Olympic Mountains has expanded to 150 acres and is expected to continue to grow for at least the next few days, said Donna Nemeth, Olympic National Forest spokeswoman.
The Type II regional incident command team will take over control of fire management from the Hood Canal Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service at noon Tuesday, she said.
Fire teams will include more than 100 firefighters, including two helicopters.
The fire in The Brothers Wilderness, located 10 miles southwest of Brinnon and 14.5 miles south-southeast of Port Angeles, is burning among Douglas fir, hemlock and western red cedar second-growth trees, with scattered old-growth trees.
Firefighting efforts have been hampered by steep, inaccessible terrain, large amounts of fuel on the ground.
Smoke remains visible to Seattle and other Puget Sound cities.
The entire length of the Duckabush Trail, from the Brinnon trailhead to the Home Sweet Home Trail junction in Olympic National Park, is closed for the safety of hikers, she said.
Authorities said the fire started Thursday from an abandoned campfire, Nemeth said.
It was originally estimated at 3 acres Saturday morning, but mushroomed quickly and sent up a plume easily visible from Seattle.
Firefighters attempted to contain it by cutting a fire line around the perimeter, digging down to bare dirt so that the fire had no fuel to expand.
However, the amount of underbrush and an especially thick layer of organic material under the trees hampered their efforts, Nemeth said.
The fire swelled to 50 acres when winds came up Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday morning was estimated to have burned 100 acres.
A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures has created “explosive fire growth potential,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jay Albrecht said.
Firefighters should be helped by cooler, less windy conditions today and Tuesday, he said.
However, the dry, warm winds are expected to return to the Peninsula by Wednesday and stay through Saturday, Albrecht said.
The fire poses no immediate threat to structures.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
