Two Fires in NCW Burning More Acreage, But Not Threatening Populated Areas

The two wildfires in North Central Washington are increasingly burning more acreage, but are not a direct threat to any homes, buildings or populated areas.

The large Twentyfive Mile Fire at Lake Chelan has expanded to more than 20,000 acres as of Friday morning, but is burning toward remote areas to the west and south.

Commander Randy Johnson with the management team says there's confidence at this point that the fire won't spread far beyond its current footprint.

Burnout operations on the part of firefighters have created clouds of smoke in the area during the past several days.

The Twentyfive Mile is 40 percent contained as of Friday morning. It's being managed by one of 16 high level Type 1 teams that are currently battling fires across the country. The team currently includes 418 personnel, and is set to finish its work at the fire and hand off management to another team on Tuesday

Investigators are still trying to determine how the fire started.

To date, it's destroyed one home. More than 770 homes and buildings remain at a low level of risk. Area evacuations remain at the least serious Level 1 (Get Ready) status. South Lakeshore Road remains closed beyond Fields Point Landing.

The smaller Nason Fire high above Lake Wenatchee has more nearly doubled in size during the past week and is now burning more than 700 acres.

A team of 55 firefighters is managing the fire, which is on steep, rocky and mountainous terrain.

Containment of the fire is being slowed by its remote location and a choice by the Forest Service to send more personnel to larger fires across the region.

The Nason fire is currently 15 percent contained. It was started by a lightning strike on August 3rd.