Progress made on Burnout Road Fire, while Suiattle Fire still burns – goskagit.com

Firefighters appear to have made progress on one of two wildfires burning in Skagit County.

The Burnout Road Fire on Chuckanut Mountain and the Suiattle Fire northeast of Darrington are burning a total of about 263 acres, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

According to an update from Natural Resources, firefighters benefited from an increase in humidity and calmer winds to make significant progress late Thursday and early Friday in fighting the Burnout Road Fire.

The first thing is to knock down the flames, and weve done that, said Michael Krueger, spokesman for the Natural Resources incident management team.

Whats left, he said, are coals and embers. Crews now need to move in from the perimeter and comb the embers to make sure they dont spread.

Its called mop-up, Krueger said. Its tiring, its dirty, its tedious.

The fire, which is about 6 miles southwest of the trailhead for South Lost Lake Trail in Larrabee State Park, is now 60 percent contained, according to a Natural Resources update Friday morning.

That means firefighters are preventing the fire from spreading along 60 percent of its perimeter. The amount contained is up from 50 percent Thursday afternoon.

The fire size is estimated at 63 acres the same as Thursday and about 154 firefighters are working on the fire.

The Suiattle Fire, which was discovered July 30 about 9 miles northeast of Darrington, was more active late Thursday than it had been the previous two days, according to an update from Natural Resources.

Heat and difficult terrain continue to make it difficult for crews to attack the fire directly, which is now listed at 200 acres and 15 percent contained.

Though the size of the fire increased by 20 acres since Thursday afternoon, containment increased from 10 to 15 percent.

Fire crews, equipped with bulldozers, will continue to shore up containment lines and to mop up and remove brush as they go.

The causes of both fires are under investigation, according to Natural Resources.

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Progress made on Burnout Road Fire, while Suiattle Fire still burns - goskagit.com