Update from Olympic National Park:
“The fire is holding within established fire lines and continues to remain 1.5 acres in size.
“Saturday, a park crew will continue to mop up accessible areas and monitor the fire while it consumes the remaining fuels within the fire line and burns itself out.”
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A fire crew remained today (Aug. 9) at the site of the still-smoldering Upper Falls fire to mop up accessible areas and monitor the blaze as it burns itself out.
The fire, burning in steep, rugged terrain about a mile southwest of Lake Crescent Lodge near Marymere Falls, has not grown from the 1.5 acres it covered on Thursday, said Rainey McKenna, Olympic National Park spokeswoman.
McKenna said the park’s three-person fire crew will continue to monitor the fire some 20 miles west of Port Angeles while it consumes the remaining fuels within fire lines created Thursday and burns itself out.
Park staff learned of the fire burning about a mile southwest of the Lake Crescent Lodge at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Park fire crew members began building fire lines Wednesday and were later joined by a 10-person state Department of Natural Resources team, which included inmates from the Olympic Corrections Center near Forks.
The DNR team left Thursday afternoon.
Fire lines were dug to the west and south of the fire, while the blaze was blocked to the north by a 75-foot downslope and Falls Creek to the east.
On Wednesday, the fire burned down some trees that were between 25 and 30 feet tall, but by today it was smoldering through underbrush upslope of Marymere Falls.
The fire did not affect access to hiking trails in the area and no structures were threatened, McKenna said.
Smoke from the fire is not easily visible from Barnes Point nor U.S. Highway 101 now, McKenna added.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Rangers suspect it was human-caused because there has been no lightning in the area recently, McKenna has said.
Updated information on the fire will be posted to Olympic National Park’s fire management website at tinyurl.com/ONPFireUpdate and can also be found by calling the fire management recorded fire information line at 360-565-3125.
________
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
