The Crescent Mountain Fire has been sending plumes of smoke high above the Twisp River drainage and raining ash throughout the valley.
Advances east towards homes in Buttermilk area in Twisp River drainage
A map from Monday night’s infrared flight shows the fire’s spread, east toward War Creek and on the north side of the road to the steep slopes below Abernathy Peak and Slate Lake.
The Crescent Mountain Fire in the upper Twisp River drainage grew significantly again in heat and virtually no humidity on Monday (Aug. 6), pushing it closer to homes in the Buttermilk area.
At an estimated 7,700 acres on Tuesday, the Crescent Mountain Fire was less than 4 miles from the nearest residence, according to the Southern Area Red Type 1 team that’s managing the fire.
The fire is burning actively in steep, thickly forested terrain on both sides of Twisp River Road, with the majority of the active fire south of the Twisp River itself.
The fire has spread through moderate creeping, flanking and torching and is slowly progressing down the Twisp River to the east. Infrared flights from Monday and Tuesday show the fire advanced significantly up the steep slopes on the north side of the road toward Scatter Lake, Abernathy Peak and Slate Lake on Monday. Because smoke was so dense, fire crews initially couldn’t do infrared flights to get an accurate picture of the acreage.
The effect of strong winds on the Crescent Mountain Fire was underscored by the fire’s exponential growth since it was discovered on Sunday, July 28. The fire was 1/2 acre the next day and 225 acres on Tuesday morning, before exploding to an estimated 4,500 acres, according to Shelby Erickson, the division supervisor for the Type 3 Arizona team that managed the fire last week. There were spot fires up to 2 miles from the main blaze.
Some days it’s been too smoky to fly aircraft over the fire, but this week fire managers plan water drops and have been able to carry out infrared flights that show areas of heat.
The Southern Area team took control of the fire on Sunday after briefing with the Type 3 team. Type 1 teams have higher-level training and are intended for complex fires.
Crews spent this Monday working on a fire line along War Creek Road to keep ahead of the blaze, according to a Tuesday-morning update by operations section chief Mark Jamieson. Crews have been widening the road by taking down trees and understory growth, said public information officer Morgan O’Brien.
The crews expected to finish prepping War Creek Road on Tuesday, working into natural barriers, said Jamieson. Once they have a safe place for people to work, they’ll deploy crews on the ground to prepare contingency lines. Operations managers hope that will keep the fire at higher elevations, said O’Brien.
Crews are also working on road systems on Buttermilk Road and further east on Little Bridge Creek and Thompson Ridge roads to prepare for potential spread to that area. On Buttermilk Road they’ve been setting sprinklers and hose lays so that firefighters can work there safely, said public information officer Connie Mehmel. “We want to make it a place where the fire can be stopped,” said Mehmel.
Crews have also been assessing residences and cleaning flammable material around houses along a 12-mile stretch of Twisp River Road, from west of Buttermilk almost to the Twisp River Flats, some 4 miles west of town. They’re coordinating with Okanogan County Fire District 6 in case the fire progresses into the settled part of the drainage, said Jamieson.
The Okanogan County Electric Co-operative notified its customers on Friday that power could be shut down without a warning to protect firefighters, and that outages could be prolonged.
“People up Buttermilk were so overwhelmed with gratitude when they got to their cabin” and saw the work that had been done, said Laurie Dowie, a public information officer for the fire, last week. Area residents should clear dry brush and other possible ignition sources to make their homes and property as defensible as possible, she said.
Caused by lightning
The Crescent Mountain Fire and a second blaze – the Gilbert Fire on the north side of the road – were discovered on July 29. Four smokejumpers were dropped on each one but were pulled out of the area on Tuesday when winds and terrain made it too dangerous, said Matt Ellis, fire management officer with the Methow Valley Ranger District.
The Crescent and Gilbert fires are now being tracked separately and have been renamed. Fire managers had originally grouped the Crescent Mountain Fire and Gilbert Fire together under the name “Gilbert Fire.”
A growing contingent of firefighters, equipment operators and support staff gathered at the Winthrop Barn for a briefing.
The Gilbert Fire is burning near the summit of Gilbert Mountain, north of the road, and remains fairly small, its spread slowed by steep, rocky ridges with little fuel. It was estimated at 38 acres on Saturday (Aug. 4) and has shown little growth since then. By contrast, the Crescent Fire is on the lower third of the slope, meaning it’s exposed to wind all day, said Ellis.
The terrain is too steep for firefighters to work safely to combat the blazes directly. “Gilbert and Crescent are in such steep country that we haven’t been able to do much in terms of control, but we can look toward structure protection and evacuations,” the Arizona incident commander said at a public-information meeting last Thursday (Aug. 2).
Over the weekend and early this week, smoky conditions made it impossible to use aircraft, but on Tuesday managers expected to begin using water drops again, said O’Brien.
Retardant wouldn’t help because it isn’t effective without firefighters on the ground, and the terrain and conditions make that unsafe, said Ellis. Moreover, the terrain is so steep that even if firefighters were able to build a fire line, burning material would roll down the hill and ignite a new fire, he said.
The Crescent Mountain Fire burned the entrance to the Twisp River Horse Camp but, as of Sunday, the campground had not been affected. With increased fire activity in the area on Monday, the status of the camp was not known on Tuesday.
There are currently 330 personnel assigned to the Crescent Mountain Fire, including about 50 support staff. There are four 20-person crews, 26 engines, five water tenders and three helicopters, plus an array of heavy equipment to cut and remove large trees, said O’Brien.
Both nationally and regionally, the preparedness level is as high as it can go, meaning scarce resources are deployed to the fires that pose the greatest threat to life and property.
The fire is burning from the end of Twisp River Road, 21 miles west of Twisp. The easternmost flank is about 15 miles from town.
The congregation at Winthrop’s Friendship Alliance Church gathered on Sunday morning to show their support for fire crews.
Fire managers expected moderate fire spread in calm winds on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Growth to the north, southeast and southwest is expected to be driven primarily by terrain. With a forecast of extremely hot weather and very low humidity later this week, they anticipate the fire will grow.
The third fire started by the same lightning storm, the Cutthroat Fire near Washington Pass, was detected first and considered to have the greatest chance of spreading, said Ellis. Fire managers attacked the Cutthroat blaze with nine smokejumpers and water drops from aircraft July 29. It was declared 100-percent contained at 25 acres last week.
There is a Level 2 evacuation order (be ready to leave) for people on Twisp River Road west of Buttermilk. The road and all trails are closed starting at Buttermilk. Fire managers are asking people to avoid Little Bridge Creek and Thompson Ridge roads.
Fire information
Information about the fires is available on InciWeb at inciweb.nwcg.gov. There is also a Facebook page for the Crescent Mountain Fire, named “Cresent Mountain and Gilbert Fires.”
Okanogan County Emergency Manager Maurice Goodall urged all community members to sign up for emergency alerts through the county’s system at okanogandem.org. Click on the map of Okanogan County that says “Alert System.”
People who want to be notified about all incidents throughout the county can text “OKCOUNTY” TO 888777. They can also text ZIP codes to that number for particular towns if they want information about incidents in those areas only.
