Bolt Creek Fire Will Continue Burning Until Weather Changes

The Bolt Creek Fire is expected to keep burning until winter can temper fire activity.

On Sep. 10, the Bolt Creek Fire started burning near Skykomish, which has now amassed up to 13,278 acres with 36 percent containment.

Since Sunday, US 2 is closed between MP 45-50, with a tree fully blocking the highway. There is currently no estimated time for reopening.

There are multiple hazardous hazardous trees that are threatening US 2, along with fires smoldering near the highway.

WSDOT is working on removing possible hazardous trees away from the highway.

Winds are blowing from the west and pushing smoke into Eastern Washington.

Fire activity is centered near the western and eastern corridors of the fire. Crews expect containment lines to hold and will let the fire burn itself out in steep and inaccessible areas.

Public Information Officer Ben Shearer said humidity should rise during Sunday night but not enough to extinguish the fire.

Shearer said that once winter comes, there may be flooding or landslide threats once temperatures drop.

“I know a lot of people are thinking we can just fly more airplanes and drop more water on it, but with the different canopy, [and] diverse slope ridges, you can't really drop water on all the places that are smoldering to do any good,” Shearer said. “You would end up doing more damage dropping that kind of water in some of those areas than you do by just letting it burn itself out.”

The Burned Area Emergency Response Team (BAER) is evaluating future flooding risks due to the Bolt Creek Fire. Results from their assessment will be released sometime this week.

Drivers are asked to slow down when passing through US 2 so that firefighters can work on the fire safely.