Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014-The Shadow Lake fire, ignited by lightning the night of Aug. 11, was drenched by heavy rainfall from a subsequent storm the following evening. The storm poured 1.7 inches of rain on the half-acre fire leaving the perimeter cold. Firefights were pulled off the fire midway through the storm due to lightning danger and heavy rainfall. The fire is now in patrol status to monitor warm spots on the interior of the burned area.
While located in the backcountry, the fire was on the far edge of the Sunrise developed area. Due to dry conditions, stretched resources, and the unavailability of a Wildland Fire Use Module*, park management made the decision to suppress the fire. Mother Nature took her own action and extinguished the fire with a downpour.
The section of the Wonderland Trail closed to the fire is reopened.
Within three hours of the initial report of smoke from the Scarface West Fire, located near Grand Park, the area received almost two inches of rain. No smoke has been reported since.
* The primary mission of a WFM is to provide an innovative, safe, highly mobile, logistically independent, and versatile fire module with a primary commitment to maintain fire’s role as a natural ecological process for wildland fire management and incident operations.
-NPS-
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
