Pomas Fire Grows To 771 Acres, Sparks Spot Fires Across Entiat River

The Pomas Fire in northern Chelan County has more than doubled in size since Tuesday.

The blaze 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 771 acres with 0% containment.

The fire was first reported by a hiker last Friday (June 13) and is believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike that smoldered for several weeks, although its exact cause is still under investigation.

The Glacier Peak Wilderness area on the Entiat River Ranger District has been closed due to the fire, which has also prompted the closure of several trails in the vicinity, as well as access to Ice Lakes and Myrtle Lake.

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The Pacific Crest Trail is 12 miles away from the blaze and is not currently being impacted.

Fire managers say the blaze is moving towards the Pomas Creek area and has touched off spot fires across the Entiat River below Borealis Peak.

Smoke from the fire has been drifting eastward throughout the week and diminishing air qualities at various locations in Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan Counties, including the Entiat and Lake Chelan Valleys, and is also becoming more widely visible in the region as the blaze grows in size.

The fire is burning in austere terrain at an elevation of 5,000 feet and is largely inaccessible by road, so crews have been primarily fighting it from the air using fixed-wing scooper aircraft and helicopters, along with smokejumpers, hot shot crews, and rappelers.

Over the past week, aerial suppression crews have dropped over 377,000 gallons of water, taken mostly from Lake Chelan and the Columbia River, on the fire.

The U.S. Forest Service has jurisdiction over the blaze, which has not prompted any evacuation notices and is not currently threatening any structures nor  caused any injuries.