OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The Queets River valley had slowed its expansion north and uphill toward Pelton Peak but continued to move to the west and east Tuesday.
It remained at an estimated 1,520 acres with 21 percent containment as of Tuesday morning.
The fire, about 13 miles inside Olympic National Park in the Queets rain forest, was sparked by a lightning strike around May 17 and discovered June 14.
The northwest corner of the fire is “backing westward,” said Koshare Eagle, spokeswoman for the National Incident Management Organization team managing what is officially known as the Paradise Fire.
She said it had advanced to about 1 mile north of the confluence of Paradise Creek and the Queets River and between 1 mile and 1.5 miles east of Bob Creek.
A “backing fire,” according to the “Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology,” is a fire that spreads against the wind, downslope or on level ground in the absence of wind.
It may have slower rates of fire spread and lower intensity, the glossary said.
The fire is working its way east up the valley in an unnamed creek drainage along a Queets River bend about 3.5 miles east of Bob Creek.
On Monday and into Tuesday morning, temperatures in the Queets River valley were cooler than forecast, and the National Weather Service predicted a cooling trend for the next few days.
A weather station at the mouth of the Queets River valley ceased operating Sunday, Eagle said.
It was unclear why the station, which provided the nearest weather information for the fire area, stopped operating, and the management team is working to learn why, she said.
The fire is burning on steep slopes in “contiguous fuel,” which is thick and interwoven, and firefighters cannot clear a fire line under those conditions, Eagle said.
A hose line was laid on the western boundary by the first firefighters to arrive in June, but the fire has moved up to steeper ground, beyond the hose line, she said.
Keeping the fire from spreading westward has been a primary goal of the fire team seeking to prevent the fire from escaping the natural confines of the Queets River valley.
Two teams of firefighters are assigned to the Queets River valley, and two helicopter crews and support personnel are based in Port Angeles for a total of about 95 assigned to the fire.
Firefighters reported no new smoke at the locations of three spot fires where the fire jumped south of the Queets River on Saturday, Eagle said.
The river is a natural boundary the Forest Service is using for containment of the fire, along with creek beds, rocky outcroppings and other nonflammable features.
A fire ban remains in effect in the Olympic National Park wilderness backcountry, including all locations along the coast.
Campfires are permitted only in established fire grates at established front-country campgrounds.
