Fires across the Pacific Northwest continued to grow today. The Mills Canyon fire near Entiat, WA has now burned over 22,000 acres, 6,000 of which were in the last four days.
Fire crews have managed to get a foothold on the flames with twenty five percent of the blaze contained as of Monday morning. However, unusually high temperatures are expected across the Pacific Northwest this week, making it increasingly difficult to control the fire.
“Unless something dramatically changes with our weather, we could be looking at fire danger for months to come,” Chelan County Fire Chief Mike Asher told KIRO-TV late last week. Up to date information on the fire can be found on Inciweb.
Meanwhile, the Moccasin Hill Fire near Sprague River in Klamath County, Oregon, has grown to 3,000 acres, destroying six homes and multiple other buildings in the process. Another 231 structures are threatened, and over one hundred residents have been forced to evacuate. As of noon on Monday, the fire was zero percent contained.
“Our objectives are clear: We will minimize the growth of the fire by utilizing direct attack efforts wherever possible,” Incident Commander Chris Cline said earlier today.
A red flag warning has been issued for the Klamath County area, meaning conditions are ideal for abundant dry lightning. Current information on the Moccasin Hill fire can be found via the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Facebook.