Pioneer Fire Officially Declared 100% Complete

After roaring to life with a fiery spark, the Pioneer Fire on the northern shores of Lake Chelan appears to have gone out with a whimper.

The blaze ignited on June 8 and was officially classified as an ongoing incident by firefighting authorities for 119 days before being considered 100% complete last Saturday, Oct. 5.

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Spokesperson Ryan Rodruck with the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says there has been no activity associated with the fire for at least the past three weeks, and no direct attacks made on the blaze for well over a month.

During its first 80 days on the landscape, the fire torched over 38,000 acres and forced the entire town of Stehekin into a Level 3 evacuation notice in mid-August.

Thanks to a large and complex protection strategy involving hundreds of firefighters, the town was spared by the fire - with no primary structures damaged or destroyed.

Rodruck says the fire has been declared as human-caused but its exact source of origin remains under investigation.

The final official acreage of the blaze is 38,370.

The DNR says the footprint of the fire will remain under observation until the arrival of persistent seasonal rain and snowfall.