8/17/2015 National Creek Fire Update

For Immediate Release:  August 17, 2015

With so many fires across the northwest, resources like crews are spread thin.  Fire officials need to prioritize work so that limited resources are addressing the most pressing needs first.  This prioritization happens at a national, regional and local level.  Some crews from National Creek Complex have been moved to other higher priority fires.

On the National Creek Complex, this means that firefighters are being grouped into teams and assigned where fire behavior analysts predict activity may pose the most threat to resources at risk.  For the past couple of days, much of the work has been concentrated on the northwest end of the fire, strengthening Highway 230 to be used as a containment line.  They’ve made good progress and while there is a lot more work to do, today the focus will shift westward.  A thermal trough off the coast may lead to winds pushing the fire west.  Crews will be working to strengthen containment lines in advance of that growth.

“With a thermal trough coming in from the coast, we expect lower humidity, higher temperatures and shifting winds,” said Ed Lewis, Incident Commander.  “As it arrives, winds will push westward, perhaps be neutral as it sits over the fire and then will push back to the east as the trough moves on.”

“We feel pretty good about the line along Highway 230,” he said.  “So far, crews have created a buffer of burned vegetation about one-quarter of a mile deep to help check the spread of the fire.  There is plenty more work to do to contain the fire but with limited resources, we need to be deliberate about being in the right place, at the right time, for the right reason.  We’re relying heavily on predictive modeling and local knowledge to position firefighters to build containment lines ahead of the fire.  This means moving folks around based on what the fire is predicted to do in the short term.”

There are 16 crews working on the National Creek Complex today, some are improving the north park entrance road to be used as a containment line and others are focused on the west but a lot of our resources today will work to strengthen the northwest perimeter ahead of the incoming weather.