A helicopter drops water off Katula Road outside Pe Ell yesterday. / Courtesy photo by DNR
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Firefighters are working to extinguish a wildfire that broke out on a timber company’s land near Pe Ell, with roughly 80 people on the ground today.
A Doty firefighter who happened to be up on a hill spotted it and contacted the state Department of Natural Resources about 9 o’clock yesterday morning.
It was initially estimated at 40 acres but is more like 25 acres, and it’s mostly debris leftover from previous logging that is burning, according to Nick Cronquist, a DNR spokesperson..
It went a little bit into the timber, burning the salal and other vegetation on the ground, Cronquist said.
The area is roughly halfway between Pe Ell and Doty.
Cronquist said this morning the fire is 70 percent contained.
“The helicopters were working pretty hard last night, but we don’t think we’ll use them again,” he said. They have them on standby, he said.
The property belongs to Green Diamond Resource Co. and is off Katula Road.
Local firefighters have been supporting the efforts, hauling water with tenders, according to Lewis County Fire District 16 Chief Greg Feuchter.
Cronquist said they had 50 personnel working the fire yesterday and expected they will be out there for the next couple of days.
It started sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, he said, and its cause is under investigation.
It’s among the first sizable wildfires in Western Washington this season, following an early in the weekend fire in Clark County, according to Cronquist.
The state Department of Natural Resources expects personnel to be working for the next couple of days to extinguish the fire. / Courtesy photo by DNR
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
States
Decomposed and decomposing are two vastly different stated of the decomposition process. Lesson adjourned.
I think you should google compost piles catching fire! Then let me know I’m wrong about compost decaying piles not catching fire!!! Check ur facts and ya ur not ALWAYS right!! So when ur compost pile catches fire remember what u said decomposing anything doesn’t burn and I hope there will b hope for you!! That all ur shit don’t burn!
You forgot revenue from charging folks who hunt, fish, bird watch, berry pick, etc. for a permit.
Land once open to all of us is boxed up tight, including DNR lands surrounded by Weyerhaeuser, Jorgensen Lumber, Manke Lumber and others, yet still enjoying all the tax perks they negotiated under the guise of “Public Access for All”.
The worst of it is our own Washington State DNR traded or sold our public lands away without concern for public assess. Wonder why kids don’t hunt and fish like they used to. So much for public stewardship!
How does decomposing work?? I recall 1 of last years fires caused by decaying piles!! Oh if hay is wet when put away gets hot causes fire also bark piles get hot causing fire!! Like last years bark pile in grandmound caught fire! So how does a decaying rotting wood shrub debris pile not catch fire in hot weather? Explain that!!! Also MANURE piles catch fire while decomposing! Decomposing debris get hot to break down if not watched will catch fire!! I’m jst saying years ago they did not leave piles all over the woods and we had less forest fires. Check ur decomposing pile from ur left overs and tell me that in this hot weather it’s not hot!!! I said nothing about taxes! Jst b nice if everyone cleaned up after themselves including the state to figure out what else to do with the huge decaying piles left behind!!
You that think the timber companies do not pay as much in tax are grossly mistaken. They do not pay as much yearly in property tax but make up for it when they harvest and pay timber tax.
To those of you think that decomposed slash is a fire hazard, there is no help for you as decomposed anything does not burn.
What pisses me off is these logging companys only pay about a dollar an acre while the rest of us get corn holed in taxes. Im paying 2400 a year in property taxes while churches and others get away with less on their taxes. I wish we could run these politicians out of town.
Maybe it’s all the huge piles of debri they leave from logging!!! The huge piles decompose and start fire! Maybe the state needs to change back to thier old ways and clean everything up from logging and not leave huge piles to decay and start a fire! I remember when they never left those huge piles and we didn’t have as many wild fires!! Everyone needs to clean up including not leaving the huge piles of rotting debri. Who’s great idea was that anyways?? If we had piles like that on r personal property I’m sure the county b all over us to clean it up!
What interested me in this fire was a fire fighter just happened to be there. Then i did a search on firefighter arsonist. Seems they arrest several firefighters each year for starting fires. Not to say that it happened in this case but it does happen often.
do they still do slash burns? it would be a beautiful summer day, clear, cloudless, and suddenly the sky would be filled with the choking stench of smoke, so thick it made you cough and brought tears to your eyes as your lungs were filled with poison. that’s just asking for a class action lawsuit these days.
these fires don’t start on their own-people on quads that probably shouldn’t be there anyway-lack of spark arrestors, people checking their trail camera tossing that cigarette, loggers leaving that glass container thrown away at the landing or side of the road-glass is a great magnifier which can easily turn dry tender into a fire.
This is just the beginning , and it’s gonna be a bad summer for fire.
Gonna be a looooong summer…