9/4/2022 Boulder Mountain Fire Update

The Boulder Mountain Fire started by lightning on Wednesday August 31, 2022 at approximately 8:30 pm. The fire is located in the Tacoma Creek and Boulder Mountain area 9 miles Northwest of Cusick, Washington. The fire is burning on Federal, State and Private land. The terrain is difficult and the fire is burning in heavy timber, slash, and beetle infested trees.

Yesterday: The fire was still very active during the day and overnight due to low humidity recoveries. This allowed for group torching, flanking, and backing. Access from the ground continues to be a challenge. Aircraft has been the primary fire suppression tactic to date. Crews continued to scout the area to make access to the fire from the ground. Dozers worked to shore up roads, create additional access, and assist firefighters on the ground where necessary. Due to the active fire behavior the fire has grown to an estimated 1400 acres. The weather event that moved through the area did not create any significant challenges for firefighters.

Today: Firefighters will continue their work with dozers and other heavy equipment to get containment lines in and work on primary and secondary ingress and egress points. That work consists of chipping and masticating to create a better road system. Aircraft will continue to be utilized as needed. The fire will continue to be active with torching, backing and moving into slash. Additional resources have been ordered and over the last few days have showed up and are being assigned to different divisions of the fire.

Weather: A warm and dry weather pattern will establish across the area after the disturbances on Saturday. This will continue through much of the week. Light terrain winds, moderate inversions, and poor relative humidity recovery at night will maintain active fire behavior.

Transition: The Type 2 Incident Management Team has been briefed and they will officially take the fire over at 06:00 tomorrow morning. The team is in place and have been briefed on strategy and tactics to date. This transition is expected to be smooth and seamless. The team brings additional overhead and access to resources due to the high priority of the fire.

Please continue to check the following sites for updated evacuation notices and campground closures. For campgrounds you can go to dnr.wa.gov and find up to date evacuation notices at: https://pendoreilleco.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Boulder-Mountain-Fire-Level-3-Evacuation-Area.pdf

Firefighter and public safety are the highest priority. We ask that the public adhere to the notices and closures that have been put in place. Firefighters will continue their work in the Tacoma Creek and Boulder Mountain area. Please stay clear of that area.

Fire information and the Incident Command Post is located at the Kalispel Pow Wow Grounds in Usk, WA. Fire information contact is Don Malone at (509) 822-8125 or you can also follow us on Facebook @NEWIMT3