COUGAR — A change in weather from hot, dry and windy to cool, damp and cloudy has helped crews battling fires in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that prompted evacuations over the weekend.
The Kalama fire, located just southeast of the Kalama Horse Camp Campground north of Cougar, grew from 4 acres Thursday to more than 100 acres over the weekend, according to the Forest Service. Weather conditions have given crews time to create containment lines around the fire, said David Grubich, public information officer.
“It won’t grow significantly, but it will grow,” he said. “Right now it’s not going to be anything substantial, it does look good.”
Progress over the weekend and changing conditions allowed officials to downgrade evacuation orders issued Friday evening.
Places identified Friday as a Level 3 “Go” evacuation, which signifies immediate danger, have been downgraded to a Level 2 “Set” evacuation level, meaning the area is at risk as the fire moves closer. The areas affected by this change are the headwaters of the South Fork of the Toutle River south to Forest Road 7550 and from the Skamania and Cowlitz County border west 5 miles into Cowlitz County.
The area from Forest Road 7550 to south of Merrill Lake and the same east to west stretch was downgraded to a Level 1 “Ready” zone, meaning there is no immediate danger but the fire may be moving toward the location.
The Level 1 “Ready” evacuation order was removed for the area south of Merrill Lake to State Route 503, including the towns of Cougar and Yale. Road and trail closures also remain in place.
The fire was located Aug. 31 on a cliff face didn’t see much change until overnight Thursday, when it grew from 4 to 80 acres. The fire is now burning on extremely steep ground and is difficult to access, Grubich said.
Last week, the National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for nearly all of western Washington and Oregon for Friday and Saturday. Though the Kalama fire grew over the weekend, it could have been worse, Grubich said. Amid the same weather conditions, the Cedar Creek fire in mid-west Oregon quadrupled in size from Wednesday to Sunday.
“The smoke helped cool things off, moderated things where they were manageable,” Grubich said. “Crews were able to keep it (the Kalama fire) in place even with high winds.”
Drizzle overnight and Monday morning helped increase moisture in fine fuels — such as grass, leaves and needles — that fires need to move, according to the Forest Service. The weather has little effect on heavier fuels that are burning and smoldering but will give crews time to improve containment lines.
Changing conditions allowed officials to downgrade evacuation orders and reopen stretches of federal and state highway closed over the weekend because of the Goat Rocks fire, northeast of Packwood. Over the weekend, the fire grew from less than 100 acres Friday morning to 2,840 acres Monday.
The National Weather forecasts cloudy skies, but no rain in Cowlitz County through Friday, and highs in the low 70s and lows from the low to high 50s.
