BRINNON — The Big Hump Fire has been downgraded to a Type 3 fire and will be returned to local control Tuesday morning.
A community meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the Brinnon Community Center to explain Tuesday’s planned transition between Type 2 Central Oregon Incident Management Team to a new, smaller Type 3 fire.
The fire will still have an incident commander based in Brinnon and community information personnel, said Ronda Bishop, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
A weather forecaster with the Central Oregon unit will explain fire behavior and the weather — and what the fire is expected to do in the foreseeable future, Bishop said.
The fire has slowly grown to more than 1,230 acres since it was sparked by an abandoned campfire Aug. 31.
Currently 81 personnel are assigned to fighting the fire.
The blaze is located in Olympic National Forest 10 miles southwest of Brinnon, 5 miles from the Duckabush River Trail’s eastern trailhead and about 16 miles southeast of Port Angeles.
The Big Hump Fire is named for a high point known as the “big hump” on the Duckabush River Trail.
A fire map, updated several times each day is available at http://tinyurl.com/pdnbighump.
The incident management team’s strategy for the blaze is to allow it to burn until rain quenches it.
Firefighters and three helicopters remain to keep the fire contained in an area that does not threaten homes or Olympic National Park until a rainstorm puts it out.
The fire has remained low, burning dead underbrush and forest litter, with only relatively few trees burned, fire officials said.
No crews are on the ground to fight the fire, which is located in steep, rugged terrain among second-growth and old-growth Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock.
The combined conditions on the Big Hump Fire of inaccessibility, very steep terrain, rolling debris and falling trees are unacceptable safety risks to firefighters, fire officials said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
