Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Firefighter Dennis Christianson gives a safety pep talk to new recruits using the fatal North Cascades forest fire as an example of the danger they can face as they mop up a small brush blaze in the Capitol State Forest on Wednesday.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
LauraLee Kassel looks for hot spots Wednesday during mop-up operations at the brush fire in the

Firefighters respond fast to Capitol Forest blaze

JOHN GRABER, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published July 12, 2001

CAPITOL STATE FOREST -- Fireworks are being blamed for a wildfire that burned about two acres in a remote area of the forest on Tuesday night.

About 50 firefighters fought the blaze, which took 10 hours to contain.

Department of Natural Resources personnel are not expecting such good fortune next time.

"We were pretty lucky," said David Cussins, a DNR forester. "We're expecting a pretty bad fire season this year. Hopefully we won't get another fire in this forest, but you never know. There are a lot of careless people out there."

The trees burned in the blaze were about 1 year old, but the fire came within 100 yards of one of the last remnants of the forest's old-growth stands, Cussins said.

It is not clear when the fire started, but it was reported around 10 p.m., said Roger Autry, a DNR incident commander. A crew of about 15 firefighters initially responded to the site and contained it by clearing a path 3 feet wide around areas where the fire was spreading.

Another 35 firefighters, including 30 inmates from the Cedar Creek correctional facility, arrived Wednesday morning to complete clearing the trail around the fire and to ensure the final hot spots in the scorched area were completely extinguished.

Even though the fire was relatively small, battling the flames was extremely difficult because the site was on a side of Fuzzy Top hill with a 70 percent slope, Cussins estimated.

"It's hard terrain because there's rolling rocks and rolling debris," Cussins said. "Safety was a major concern. ... Also, footing is difficult when you are using tools."

But the firefighters had two things going for them.

The fire was started at night when humidity is high, so the fuel was not as dry as it could have been.

Also, the fire was on the hill's north slope, where the sun doesn't hit the vegetation directly. That means it is not as dry as vegetation on the south side.

"The slope on the other side is probably four times as dry," said Jim LaJeune, a DNR incident commander.

John Graber covers law enforcement and the military for The Olympian.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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