Pomas Fire Will Burn All Summer, Cause Smoky Air, Officials Say

Officials managing the Pomas Fire in northern Chelan County say the blaze will likely burn with little or no containment throughout the summer months.

The blaze was sparked by a lightning strike that smoldered for several weeks in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area and was first reported by a hiker on June 13.

The fire is burning in dead and down timber within the footprint of the 2015 Wolverine Fire about 36 miles northwest of Entiat and is currently listed at 1,509 acres with 0% containment.

Public information officer Ben Shearer, who is with the Type 3 Southeast Washington Incident Management Team assigned to the blaze, says containment levels for the Pomas Fire likely won't change much due to several factors, including where the fire is located and what it's burning.

"Typically the term 'containment' refers to a solid line of mineral earth or some other stop line that gets built between the fire and anything that's at risk. With this fire we've got a lot of snags (dead or dying trees that are still standing) and any number of steep and rocky cliffs with trees growing out of their edges with no way for firefighters to get in there. We're considering those natural areas like the cliffs a holding line since the chances of the fire going over them are slim, but we're still not considering them to be true containment lines. A majority of this fire will be fought by removing growth and putting in lines that are, in some cases, well away from where the fire is currently active. There's not going to be a lot of hands-on firefighting with this event. It's hard to access in the bottom of a drainage where it's really tight. So we're basically making sure the fire can't pop out of that drainage where it's currently burning, so the official percentage of containment won't be changing a lot with this event because we can't actually work to control the fire at its active edges."

In recent days, crews have been working to strengthen containment lines that were built during previous wildfires in the Tommy Creek and Shady Pass areas as the fire continues to spread in windy conditions towards the Ice Creek vicinity, creating spot fires on both sides of the Entiat River in the process.

Shearer says while containment lines are being built at strategic locations designed to keep the fire from becoming a much larger event, crews have also been working to safeguard critical infrastructure in the area.

"Right now, the fire has already spread down into Myrtle Creek. It's actually about a thousand feet away from the Myrtle Creek Bridge, which we now have fully wrapped in fireproof material. Crews have been in there over the past couple of days making sure that the bridge and a few other pieces of critical infrastructure are protected from fire and smoke damage. Also, if the fire does get into that area and they have a chance to go hands-on with it, they certainly will, which might lead to the containment level going up a tiny bit. But right now, it's really all about opening up some old trails in the area to use for access and possible fire lines, getting into where the old trails and fire lines are up in the area of the Wolverine Fire of ten years ago, and getting down some of those snags that make it dangerous for firefighters to be in certain areas."

Crews have reportedly been doing an exceptional job of executing the work that's necessary to implement the containment plan, and Shearer says they're ahead of schedule in most places.

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He adds the firefighting teams are using a lot of heavy machinery to do the job, including a piece of equipment called a masticator.

"People are always interested in knowing what a masticator is whenever they hear about it or see one. Basically, it's like a great big weedeater on steroids. A big weed-eating head is mounted on a piece of equipment on an arm that can reach into and out over the trail and it can take out quite a bit of brush very quickly. So they're really doing some great work and production is exceeding our expectations in a few areas around the fire. There are a few spots where we need some more help, however, and that's why we have some extra personnel coming in this week."

Personnel assigned to fire increased from 109 on Tuesday to 280 on Wednesday, when several helicopters and multiple apparatus were also still being utilized.

Aerial suppression measures were very active during the first week of the fire, when over 377,000 gallons of water - mostly from Lake Chelan and the Columbia River, were dropped on the blaze by both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, but Shearer says those efforts have been backed off in recent days due to being ineffectual.

"It's kind of been backed off at this point because the larger ops (firefighting aircraft) aren't able to get down to where the fire is, so they're evaluating as we go. There are a few spots where there might be enough active flames that crews can hit from the air that they'll get back in there and try again. When they dumped all that water on it in the first couple of days, it really didn't do much to stop the fire from spreading and it just grew anyway due to the amount of fuels that are on the ground. It's just so extremely dried out up there right now. They'll keep looking for opportunities if they think it might help, but otherwise it's hard on the ground and hard on the environment if we do too much of it, so we're going to be limiting that to only times when we think it might be advantageous for us."

Although many area residents who are unfamiliar with wildland firefighting operations are questioning why retardant drops are not being done to halt the fire's advance, Shearer says there are a number of reasons why that measure hasn't, and likely won't be used at any time during the event.

"Retardant has very specific applications and uses. It doesn't do well in a canopy environment where it can't make it to the ground easily. There's a lot of areas out in the forest where retardant doesn't do any good to stop the progress of a wildfire. It simply doesn't coat surfaces well enough or create the line of retardant that's necessary to establish a potential barrier. There's also a lot of places in the forest where it's also flat-out illegal to dump retardant, so we have to be cautious of those areas and if we're going to actually use retardant in the forest, it has to be in an area where it's actually allowed. We also can't dump it in areas where we have a lot of water drainages - like on this fire, since it can easily get back into water systems where we don't want it."

No evacuation notices have been issued as a result of the fire, and Shearer says it's not likely there will be any before the blaze finally wicks out.

In addition, no structures have been damaged or destroyed by the blaze, but Shearer says despite the fire being located in a very remote area of the wilderness, there are a few that could eventually end up being threatened.

"There are a couple of old cabins up there but nothing that is at extreme risk right now. Most of the values that are at risk at the moment are a lot of bridges that cross over creeks and some trails, which crews have been in there identifying and taking steps to protect. We've got about twenty or thirty structures of that kind which have been wrapped in fireproofing so far."

A portion of the Glacier Peak Wilderness area on the Entiat River Ranger District was closed last week due to the fire, along with 15 trails and access to several lakes, including Ice Lakes and Myrtle Lake.

This week, officials announced the closure of 13 additional trails, as well as nine U.S. Forest Service roads, and six campgrounds, including popular spots like Silver Falls and Cottonwood.

Shearer says it's possible that more roads, trails, and campgrounds might close in the weeks ahead because of the fire, and incident managers are asking the public to stay out of all areas where closures are in place.

"We're asking everybody to please stay out of the areas we have closed. If you don't own a building or a cabin up there, then definitely stay out. We are working with those who own property up there to help them get access if they require it. We've got a lot of heavy equipment going up and down the road, so if you're planning on heading into the forest for recreation this weekend or over the Fourth of July holiday, doublecheck to make sure the places you're looking to go in the National Forest are currently open."

Smoke from the fire has been diminishing air qualities as it drifts into locations in northern Chelan and Douglas, and southern Okanogan Counties for nearly two weeks now, and has also been billowing further distances in recent days into places like the Wenatchee Valley.

Unfortunately, Shearer says residents and visitors in the region will likely need to cope with smoke impacts from the fire all summer, as the blaze is not expected to be out for several months - barring the unlikely event of a major rain event in the interim.

"We really don't expect to see the fire grow by a large amount in the weeks ahead, but it's going to be one of those deals where it's just going to burn all summer as it consumes all the fuels it has available in the area that we can't get to. I think they're forecasting it could be mostly burned out by the end of August at this point, but it could be even longer or even shorter if we get the right kind of weather and are able to actually knock it back it some areas. But again, we don't expect either of those things to happen. We'll definitely see more days with smoky air in the region over the summer. It'll be worse on windy days up on the fire, since that will push the smoke into the communities around it, but on days when it isn't windy up here, it'll actually be worse for us because the smoke will just kind of settle in on itself and make conditions a lot tougher. I would expect to see smoke impacts from this fire for at least the next two or three months."

Shearer says conditions in the forest are extremely dry, so officials are pleading with the public to refrain from using fireworks in any places where they aren't legal, and consider celebrating the upcoming 4th of July holiday without them, even in places where they are allowed. He adds that one accident with something as seemingly innocuous as a sparkler could touch off a catastrophic event at this time.