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DAILY UPDATE
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Lone Mountain 1 Fire
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Friday, August 1, 2014
Contact: Information Desk in Winthrop: 509-996-3624
Public Information Officers: Glenda Scott and Peri Suenram (406-540-3091) in Winthrop, and Kim Smolt in Stehekin (509-699-2080, ext.18).
Please be patient and use all of our lines as we have inconsistent phone coverage.
Cause: Lightning, July 14, 2014
Location: Boulder Creek drainage, northeast of Stehekin and west of Butte Creek, in the Stephen
Mather Wilderness
Jurisdiction: North Cascades National Park Complex, National Park Service
Size: 2050 acres
Command: N. Rockies Wildland Fire Management Team, John Thompson, Incident Commander
Strategy: Point protection and modified suppression
The fire grew about 325 acres yesterday. Growth was again on the north end of the fire, west of the lower reaches of Rennie Creek, with movement towards Reynolds Peak. Fire activity consisted of short uphill runs in heavier fuels, which produced a prominent column of smoke visible from the Methow Valley prompting concern from local citizens. The runs ended in high elevation scree slopes.
The bowl between Rennie Creek and Reynolds Peak will most likely burn out today, creating more smoke in the area. Any continued fire growth to the north will encounter steep, rocky slopes, high alpine meadows, and patches of snow with little risk of spread outside the containment boundary. Lone Mountain fire crews are monitoring the ridgetops to ensure quick action will be taken in the unlikely event of any new starts east of the Park boundary.
With the arrival of August, the fire area is experiencing very poor relative humidity recovery and is under a fire weather watch for dry thunderstorms and gusty, erratic winds on Friday and Saturday. Crew safety and support for initial attack of any new fire starts will be the priority for the day.
Yesterday, crews on the mountain continued direct suppression activities by "hot spotting" with the assistance of helicopter bucket drops.
All services are available in Stehekin which has not been experiencing smoke from the Lone Mountain 1 fire. The North Cascades National Park Superintendent has closed the Boulder Creek Trail in the Stephen Mather Wilderness. Campfires are banned in all campgrounds from Purple Point to Tumwater. The Forest Supervisor of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has lifted the area closure in the vicinity of the Lone Mountain 1 Fire on National Forest Lands with the exception of War Creek and Williams Creek trails.
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