Lightning started a fire approximately eight miles up the Thunder Creek drainage from the Colonial Creek campground in North Cascades National Park. The Thunder Creek Fire was detected Saturday evening and grew to about 15 acres as of Sunday afternoon.
California's Whiskeytown Fire Module, which was already at work in Washington, will be reassigned to the Thunder Creek Fire under the leadership of Incident Commander Robert Winkler.
Park officials have closed portions of the Thunder Creek and Fisher Creek Trails due to the fire's proximity. The Thunder Creek trail is closed between Neve and Skagit Queen camps, and the Fisher Creek trail is closed west of Cosho Camp to the junction with the Thunder Creek trail. The trail from Thunder Creek over Fourth of July Pass into Panther Creek remains open.
"We're anticipating wet weather in the next few days. That's giving us time to organize an efficient plan for managing the fire," said Dee Townsend, Fire Management Officer for North Cascades National Park Service Complex.
The weather is expected to break Thursday and will allow the Whiskeytown firefighters to start their work. The firefighters will take action to protect the historic cabins updrainage from the fire and will evaluate options to manage the fire to provide for firefighter and visitor safety and to protect wilderness values.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
