Day 320: The high winds the firefighters were hoping to avoid have arrived. I drove through flying leaves and down roads littered with fallen branches this morning en route to Reliance, there to find the smoke from all but the most active areas blown away. While it makes for a clearer photo, this is not good news. Our little piddle of overnight rain wouldn't sustain a Chihuahua more than 24 hours, and ground fuels are tinder-dry, ready to ignite at the touch of a wind-blown spark.
The Alder Lake Fire now stands at 275 acres. The USFS and DNR have a total of 157 personnel on the incident, and their objective is to hold the progression of the fire on the 79 Road. Quoting from the latest bulletin, the "primary objective is to stop and hold eastward spread of the fire. The fire has been steadily growing to the east, west, and north." Another section of the bulletin states, "Growth continued on west and south sides of the fire." That pretty much covers all the cardinal points of the compass, no? From my observation, growth to the north is minimal, so maybe Wrongside Up Larry was reading the map for one of these reports. In any event, projected activity predicts, "Moderate fire behavior with +20 acres growth." On the map, note the new hot spot east of the main fire (closer to Pleasant Valley)...and that's if the winds die down.
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