Fire Update August 10

Date: August 10, 2009
Contact: Kerry Olson, 360 854-7302

No new fires have been discovered in North Cascades National Park Complex since Monday, August 3^rd. However, several of the existing fires continue to grow slowly and produce smoke. Cloudy weather since Friday has limited most aviation activities, but fire personnel did take advantage of clear skies Sunday afternoon to do some reconnaissance and bucket work with helicopters. General haze in the Park area is due to fires all around the area, not just from fires in the Park. Surrounding National Forests have numerous small fires, and there are several large fires burning in southern and southwestern British Columbia.

THE FOLLOWING FIRES ARE BEING SUPPRESSED
The Rhode Fire is ¼ acre, locatednear Colonial Campground. Little activity has been noted for several days.

The Crapper Fire is 2 acres. The fire is located about one mile southeast of Newhalem and the North Cascades National Park Visitor Center. The Flush Fire and Tank Fire are both small fires discovered Aug 1 near the Crapper Fire. These three fires are being suppressed due to their proximity to the infrastructure around Newhalem. No smoke was seen on any of these fires from the air, during flights on Sunday.

Fire personnel have suppressed 9 other fires resulting from lightning storms of the last 2 weeks.

THE FOLLOWING FIRES ARE BEING MANAGED BY FIRE PERSONNEL
The Panther Creek Fire has continued to burn down to and along Panther Creek to the west – away from Highway 20. The fire is now estimated to be 230 acres in size.

The Elija Fire is now approximately 350 acres, located 4 miles above Highway 20, on the east side of Panther Creek. It is the most active of the managed fires. Smoke is settling into the Highway Corridor and the lakes.

The Cascade Drainage Fire is 2 acres, located southwest of Boston Basin, above the Cascade River Road. The fire has moved downhill and to counter further movement towards the road, some limited containment actions (water drops from a helicopter), were begun on Sunday.

The Brush (66 acres) and Easy (less than ½ acre) Fires are both located on either side of Brush Creek, about 3 miles southeast of Copper Mt. Lookout. The fire has continued to move further downhill to towards Brush Creek.

The Fourth of July Fire is ½ acre, located in Panther Creek.

The Bouck Fire is 1/10 acre, located near Bouck Lake.

The Luna Pilot Fire is one acre on the northeast flank of Luna Peak.

TRAIL CLOSURES:
The Panther Creek Trail is closed from the trailhead on Highway 20 to Fourth of July Pass, until further notice.

The Brush Creek Trail is closed from Whatcom Pass to the Chilliwack River, until further notice.

Except for these trail closures, Park visitor facilities have not been affected by any of the fires.

For current fire information, contact the North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem (206-386-4495), the Wilderness Information Center (360-854-7245) in Marblemount or visit www.inciweb.org/incident/1718/

To learn more about wildland fire in the National Park System go to: www.nps.gov/fire/fire/fir_wildland.cfm