OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — A forest fire west of Brinnon spread to about 100 acres overnight, said a forest service spokeswoman this morning.
The fire, thought to have been started by an abandoned campfire on Thursday, is “burning in steep terrain with rolling material, so it’s not safe at this point to bring crews in,” said Donna Nemeth of the Olympic National Forest at 9:17 this morning.
Two helicopters are on order, along with the six additional ground crews ordered on Saturday, she said.
“They are relying on air support once the helicopters arrive,” Nemeth said.
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EARLIER STORY
OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST — Wind fanned a three-acre fire believed to be caused by an abandoned campfire into a 50-acre ground blaze west of Brinnon on Saturday.
The blaze — in a heavily forested area with large hemlock, fir and cedar trees — created a plume of smoke that could be seen in Seattle.
The fire began Thursday five miles up the Duckabush Trail and prompted closure of the trail.
It has been dubbed the Big Hump Fire because it is at “a point in the trail where people say you are over the big hump,” said Donna Nemeth, forest service spokeswoman.
It was still only a three-acre fire early Saturday but mushroomed that afternoon when the wind came up, Nemeth said.
Fire managers ordered six more crews and a helicopter after the blaze expanded, Nemeth said.
The added crews were to work with the Entiat Interagency Hot Shot Crew from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, which arrived at the fire early Saturday, Nemeth said.
This “self-contained crew of 20 people who are very skilled in what they do” are using a “full-suppression tactic” to extinguish the fire, she said.
The state Department of Natural Resources also is moving resources into the area, officials said Saturday.
The fire is a ground blaze that has not moved into the trees, Nemeth said.
Firefighters are trying to contain it by cutting a fire line around the perimeter of the blaze, digging down to the bare dirt so that the fire has no fuel to expand.
Not only is the area heavily forested, but it also has a heavy understory.
“The detritus on forest floor is really thick in this spot,” Nemeth said.
“It’s burning in some really heavy fuel,” Rita Chandler, fire staff officer for the Olympic National Forest, told KOMO-TV News of Seattle.
The base of the fire is at an elevation of 1,100 to 1,200 feet, Nemeth said.
The fire poses no immediate threat to structures.
A National Forest Service website with information on current conditions of the Duckabush Trail — http://tinyurl.com/4x6p9at — says it was closed to the boundary with Olympic National Park because of the wildfire.
Fire managers from Olympic National Forest have said the fire was believed to have been caused by an abandoned campfire.
The Duckabush Trail extends 16.1 miles from the park boundary to O’Neil Pass and passes through ancient forest.
It is unknown if the fire is in an old-growth area.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
KOMO is a news partner of the Peninsula Daily News.
