QUILCENE — A fire that burned through 4 acres of brush and timber on Monte Cristo Ridge on Sunday has officials concerned about the coming fire season.
“It’s a huge concern to have a fire like this one this early in the year,” Wayne Heckathorn said Monday. Heckathorn was the state Department of Natural Resources incident commander at Sunday’s fire northwest of Quilcene.
Jim Heuring, fire operations manager for the DNR’s Olympic region, agreed with Heckathorn as crews on Monday mopped up hot spots in burned out stumps that had once been trees.
“For a fire to get so big so quickly this early in the year is a concern,” Heuring said.
“Rainfall is way down and that stretch of 70 degree temperatures is drying things out pretty rapidly.”
Heuring said humidity dropped 17 percent at one point last week.
“I think a lot of us were surprised at how extremely dry it is,” Heuring said.
Although the undergrowth in the area of the fire was extremely dry, the fire burned above the surface making it easier to extinguish, Heuring said.
The fire started on the eastern side of Monte Cristo Ridge and burned to the west pushed by 15 mph winds.
Terrain leading to the ridge is extremely steep, a fact that made the firefighting effort more difficult, Heckathorn said.
Snags, windfallen trees and rolling debris also made the firefighters’ work hazardous and slowed their progress.
Volunteers from Jefferson County Fire District No. 2 in Quilcene were first on the scene and quickly asked for help from other districts in the county and the wild land fire team from Clallam County Fire District No. 3 in Sequim.
Firefighters from Chimacum, Port Ludlow, Gardiner and Brinnon joined the effort before crews from DNR and U.S. Forest Service arrived.
Inmates from the state honor camp at Clearwater in western Jefferson County were bused to the scene to help with the effort.
