Bear Gulch Fire spreads to canopy, burns deeper into Olympic National Park

In just a few short days the Bear Gulch Fire on the Olympic Peninsula has nearly tripled in size and burned deeper into the national park, while hundreds of firefighters battle the flames and evacuation orders continue. 

In places, the flames have jumped into the dense forest canopy and even burned up the moss in rocky outcroppings that might normally serve as fire breaks, said Michelle Fidler, a spokesperson for the crews fighting the wildfire. Portions of the wildfire are likely to continue burning for weeks or months until they’re extinguished by rain or snow, she said.

The fire now covers more than six square miles, data shows, and firefighters have it 3% contained. That containment number dropped significantly since Wednesday — not because crews failed to hold their perimeters, said Thomas Kyle-Milward, spokesperson for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, but because the fire grew so much in the last couple of days. 

People in the Copper Creek and Staircase Ridge areas northwest of Lake Cushman have been ordered by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office to evacuate immediately, while those south of the Dry Creek Trail should prepare to leave if conditions worsen. 

The human-caused fire was first reported July 6 near the Mount Rose trailhead in Olympic National Forest. Specifics of how the fire started are still under investigation.

It’s the third fire within the Bear Gulch area in the last three decades, fueling concerns about major wildfires west of the Cascades as Washington’s prolonged drought conditions worsen and global warming ratchets the risk higher with each passing year. 

So far no buildings have been damaged and no injuries or fatalities have been reported but the fire shows no signs of abating.

The reason the fire grew so quickly this week is because the flames jumped westward over the North Fork Skokomish River, which had been acting as a natural fire break, Kyle-Milward said.

Once fire spots began igniting on the other side of the river, the flames were able to grow quickly, in some places burning uphill and into wooded areas, he said. 

The wildfire is burning through some particularly difficult terrain, Fidler said. Steep slopes combined with thick forests (dried by drought) can easily cut off access for firefighters. Hanging moss is making the problem worse, helping the fire spread through tree canopies, she said.

If earlier this week the fire had been nibbling around the edges of Olympic National Park, the flames are now comfortably within the park’s boundaries and expanding to the north and west. Most of Forest Service Road 24 is closed, as are the Upper- and Lower Mt. Ellinor trail systems, alongside the Jefferson Ridge, Jefferson Lake and Elk Lake trails. Within Olympic National Park, the North Fork Skokomish drainage and Staircase trailheads and campground are closed.

Hundreds of firefighters are scrambling to contain the fire and, when possible, helicopters are dropping large buckets of water over the flames. Firefighters are using sprinkler systems and clearing plants to safeguard buildings around Copper Creek, according to an incident report from the combined state, regional and federal crew battling the fire. 

Not only has smoke repeatedly blocked attempts for crews to fly aircraft in the area to fight the fire but the haze has also drifted eastward, clouding skies in the Puget Sound area. Air quality around Seattle remained at generally good levels as of Friday morning.