CHIMACUM — Steep hills and rainy weather are making it difficult for state fire crews to directly attack a fire near Big Rock that has grown from less than an acre to 5 acres.
Still, incident commanders said Wednesday that the fire, which began Tuesday, poses little danger to the community.
“We have lines set up on three sides of the fire,” said Jim Heuring, fire commander for the state Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s pretty dangerous conditions to get in there and fight it with the hill it’s on, the conditions of the hill and with the wind gusting like it is.”
Heuring said the wind and rainy conditions meant muddy conditions on the ground and multiple trees falling over in the area.
“Right now, the guess is between 3 and 5 acres of sporadically burning fire,” he said.
“Right now, we are controlling it and doing our best to prevent it from getting larger.”
No immediate danger
Heuing said the location in the hills near Anderson Lake was remote enough that there was no immediate danger to human lives or structures.
Forty crew members from Resources and one East Jefferson Fire-Rescue firefighter — who is supplying water to the state crews — have established a command post up a muddy, private road into the hills off of Anderson Lake Road.
The fire, which is burning in the bluffs to the east of Anderson Lake, was first spotted around 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Residents of SKP Park, a trailer park, reported seeing smoke up in the hills near Big Rock.
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Investigator Kurt Steinbach was flown over the fire in a plane owned by Gregg Melbe, who was visiting SKP Park, in an attempt to locate a passable road for apparatus access.
Steinbach determined that the fire threatened no structures or people and found, from the air, a series of private roads that were later used by state crews to get close to the blaze before they hiked in.
Cause unknown
The fire was turned over to Resources at 4 p.m. but around 7 p.m., the fire grew larger, and East Jefferson Fire-Rescue was called back to help, said East Jefferson Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Keppie Keplinger.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Big Rock is also commonly referred to as Chimacum Rock by locals, said EastJefferson Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Chuck Boggs. The location is accessible by hiking trails and the rock itself is known as a small and easy rock climbing crag.
No roads are closed because of the fire.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
