OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — The Big Hump fire grew to 850 acres Saturday as crews increased helicopter water drops.
The fire, restricted mostly to the forest floor, is located in The Brothers Wilderness, about 10 miles southwest of Brinnon.
Its size was estimated at 809 acres Friday and 689 on Thursday, said Pam Sichting, spokeswoman for the Central Oregon Incident Management Team, which is managing the fire.
The fire, named for a high point on the Duckabush River Trail, is considered slow-moving and is not threatening property.
Sichting said Friday crews have received two more helicopters for containment efforts.
That brings the total in the air to three since one was pulled away for the larger Monastery fire near Goldendale.
“People are going to see more helicopters in the air to check that line in the east,” she said.
‘Really nasty smoke’
Smoke from the fire drifts into populated areas at night, said Karen Sickel, who lives about four miles from the fire on Duckabush Road and a few miles south of Brinnon.
By about 8 p.m., “really nasty smoke” totally engulfs the valley, and it’s completely fogged in until sometime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. the next day, she said.
The Duckabush and Mount Jupiter trails have closed as a result of the fire.
It remains at least three miles away from the nearest structure, said Ronda Bishop, information officer for the management team.
Containment crews have been unable to reach the fire because of the area’s steep slopes.
Helicopters have been relied on to dump water on the fire to slow its growth.
‘Season-ending event’
It’s expected that it will continue to simmer until rainfall extinguishes it, likely sometime near the end of the month, Sichting said.
“People are going to see smoke up there until we get a season-ending event,” she said.
The fire started Aug. 31 and is believed to have been ignited by an abandoned campfire.
Although it mushroomed quickly from three acres to 150 in its first couple days, the fire is now considered to be growing “very slowly,” Sichting said.
The plan is to keep the fire within The Brothers Wilderness area north of the Duckabush River, east of Olympic National Park, south of the Dosewallips River and west of a ridge line from the Dosewallips River south to the Duckabush River.
Containment efforts will be increased if the fire reaches certain “management points,” Bishop said.
She said those areas are where the fire would begin to threaten property.
On the east side of the fire, they are located between three to five miles from its current boundary.
It’s unclear, Bishop said, if the fire will reach those points.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
