Wildfire crews on Tuesday afternoon changed their tactics while working to gain the upper hand on the 60-acre Hilltop Fire 10 miles east of Hockinson.
The fire was estimated to be 56 percent contained, according to a bulletin issued at 4:30 p.m. from the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
“Our crews are making great headway considering the steepness of the terrain and the heavy fuels,” said Incident Commander Andy Aschenbrenner.
As clouds rolled in, and humidity increased, firefighters stopped using burnout techniques that involve starting their own controlled burns to deprive the wildfire of fuel, said Seth Barnes, a public information officer for the DNR. To make a burnout successful, he said, warmer, drier conditions are needed, and light winds to push the intentionally set fires into the interior of the original wildfire.
Crews used the burnout strategy on Monday and hoped to use it again Tuesday, until the weather changed.
Crews tabled the burnout for Tuesday and changed their tactics to working to create fire lines of 100 feet of “cold black” around the wildfire — in areas where it already burned — to stop it from spreading to new areas.
That involves using more water, along with intensive digging and chopping in areas where the fire has already burned, using hand tools to break stumps and old rotten logs apart, and digging up roots, in order to put water on areas that are still smoldering, Barnes said. The hand tools used include hoses, shovels, axes, chain saws and pulaskies, with two-purpose heads that both chop and dig.
A hundred feet of cold black is considered a safe fire line, Barnes said.
“Due to increasing use of water on the fire line there will be more traffic in the area from water tenders,” the DNR update said late Tuesday afternoon. “The public is urged to drive with caution.”
Depending on the weather, crews might return to burnout work Wednesday, he said.
On Wednesday, because of the approaching start of school, the base camp will be moved from Hockinson High School to a fire station in Fern Prairie, near Camas, the bulletin said.
For recorded updates, folks can call 360-448-6494.
Firefighters worked under difficult conditions. A red flag warning for Clark, Skamania and Cowlitz counties issued by the National Weather Service was expected to have remained in place until 11 p.m.
Officials early Tuesday morning said crews had made significant progress in establishing lines around the fire.
“This really put us ahead of the game,” Aschenbrenner said. “We now have a line on that far western edge, allowing us to build off of a solid anchor point.”
Nearly 200 firefighters worked on the 60-acre wildfire. Two helicopters dumped water and flame retardant from above. Nine fire engines were being used, plus the water tenders, which bring tanks of water to the scene, and smaller brush rigs.
Four inmate crews are working, two from Larch Corrections Center and two from Cedar Creek Honor Camp, supervised by DNR officials.
The DNR warned that the burnouts, when the tactic is used, would increase visible smoke over the Vancouver and Portland metro areas.
John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.
