[pct-l] More on Stehekin and Mazama fires

[andrea dinsmore]

05:55 PM PDT on Saturday, September 9, 2006

Associated Press 

STEHEKIN, Wash. -- Fire burning near a remote hamlet in northcentral Washington prompted the Chelan County sheriff's office Saturday to issue an evacuation notice for dozens of homes and businesses in Stehekin Landing and along Lake Chelan. 

The Flick Creek fire was estimated at 6,511 acres. It has been threatening the town of Stehekin at the north end of the lake intermittently since it was accidentally started by a campfire July 26. 

Sheriff Mike Harum issued the "level three" warning, meaning a current and immediate threat exists from the fire and people are advised to leave the area immediately. 

"The Level 3 Evacuation notice along the lakeshore up to the corner of Buehler's Bluff is necessary due to the possibility of rolling rocks and debris from fire in the Purple Creek drainage," the sheriff's office said in a news release. 

About 25 to 30 residences and businesses were affected by Saturday's evacuation notice, fire information officer Mick Mueller said. 

He added that the predominant number of structures were above the landing where boats and float planes drop tourists heading into the wilderness. 

On Friday, the sheriff's office ordered the mandatory evacuation of three vacation homes in the Hazard Creek drainage, about a mile south of Stehekin Landing on the lake's northeastern shore. 

About 40 miles northeast of Entiat, the Tinpan fire in the Glacier Peak Wilderness was holding at about 8,197 acres, or more than 12 square miles. 

"It didn't get much fire activity overnight and we're feeling pretty good about it holding," Mueller said. 

About 108 firefighters were assigned to the blaze. 

More than 3,000 firefighters were assigned to the Columbia complex and Tripod complex, the two largest wildfire clusters in the state. 

The lightening-caused Columbia complex near Dayton has burned more than 158 square miles of wheat fields, brush and forest in southeastern Washington and was 55 percent contained. 

The Flick Creek fire, estimated at 6,511 acres, was accidentally started by a campfire July 26. 

In northcentral Washington, firefighters continued to battle the massive Tripod complex about seven miles northwest of Winthrop. One of three wildfires in the Pasayten Wilderness Area, the Tripod complex has burned nearly 267 square miles. 

At its northern flank, the fire was burning about a mile south of the Canadian border. No structures were immediately threatened, and the blaze was 60 percent contained. 

The Tatoosh complex, 18 miles northwest of Mazama, was estimated at 39,470 acres --about 62 square miles -- and extended into Canada. U.S. and Canadian fire managers also were monitoring the Van Peak fire, which was burning between the Tripod and Tatoosh fires about five miles south of the border. 

Residents in Mazama remained on notice to be ready to evacuate if the Cedar Creek fire grows. That blaze, estimated at about two square miles or 1,500 acres southwest of town, was 40 percent contained. 



This report is from KING 5 News, Seattle.

Andrea Dinsmore