Fire threatens as Stehekin waits turn for more help

STEHEKIN, Chelan County — With a patchwork of fires slipping and sliding across steep, rocky terrain, the threat of evacuation for the small, isolated community of Stehekin on Lake Chelan still looms.

Told last week to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, about 300 permanent residents and summer visitors waited anxiously on Sunday for fire crews to push back the Flick Creek fire burning three miles south of town.

The wildfire, started by an illegal campfire on Wednesday, has covered more than 4,600 acres, or more than seven square miles.

No homes have burned yet. But because there's no road to Stehekin, crews must be brought in by boat or dropped in by helicopter. Residents are frustrated at the time it's taken to get more firefighters here, especially with warmer, drier temperatures expected to return this week.

Forest Service officials say they've requested more help, but crews are spread thin because of the number of fires now burning in the Northwest.

A cool western wind and lower-than-usual temperatures slowed the fire's progress over the weekend, but the high cliffs in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest make firefighting difficult, officials say.

Two dozen U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service officials have been on the ground since last week, building fire breaks to protect about 100 structures in Stehekin and along the Lake Chelan shoreline.

Sunday morning, three helicopters joined up with about 10 smokejumpers to attack the fire's northern perimeter, the first effort to contain the blaze since it ignited.

The helicopters used large buckets to scoop up lake water and dump it on the flames. About 70 people now are working the fire.

"The impression is that the Forest Service delayed too long and that locals had to take their own measures," said permanent resident Carol Knapp, whose family history in the area dates back to 1888.

While the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service would like more firefighters on site, national crews are stretched to their limits. Within Washington and Oregon, about 10 large, active fires are being fought; nationwide the number is close to 60.

The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team, which is organizing the Flick Creek fire response, requested four more 20-person teams, but it's unclear whether they will receive that many. The crews normally would come within 24 hours of the request.

"The good news is they're coming," said Terry Knupp, a spokeswoman for the team. "We just don't know when."

Crews and helicopters want to push the blaze northeast and higher into the mountains, where eventually it would die on its own.

Firefighters also will be directed to the southern perimeter, specifically to keep an eye on lakeshore cabins.

Typically, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland is responsible for sending crews to large wildfires in Washington and Oregon. But a hot wildfire season, burning up more acreage to date this year than in any of the past 10 years, has forced it to rely on a nationwide network of wildfire crews, said spokesman Marc Hollen.

"The reality is that we're tapped out," Hollen said.

About three weeks ago, a series of storms brought thousands of lightning bolts, setting off numerous fires.

The Black Crater fire near Sisters, Ore., threatens 300 structures, and some subdivisions have been ordered evacuated. Slightly fewer than 700 people have been assigned to that fire.

In Washington, almost 600 crew members have been sent to the Tripod fire northeast of Winthrop, Okanogan County. While confined to mostly uninhabited lands, it has eaten up more than 18,000 acres since July 24.

Other Washington fires include Bear Gulch II in the Olympic National Forest and the Tinpan fire, also in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

Across the nation, wildfires this season already have consumed more than 5.5 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

All the action elsewhere has left Stehekin to compete for crews with larger, even more dangerous fires.

"I'm pleased with the way the community has banded together," said Ron Scutt, a 30-year resident of Stehekin. "A lot of us should have been doing more from the beginning."

This is far from the first fire to threaten the Lake Chelan area, as is evident in the scarring that lines the valley, and it certainly won't be the last, Scutt said.

Said Judy Clark, also a longtime resident of Stehekin, "Having gone through several horrendous fires in my lifetime, I know that when the fire comes, you don't have much time to get out, and you don't have time to wait on the national agencies."

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com