Every morning, officials on the Cougar Creek Fire are issued a lengthy document called an Incident Action Plan that details the day’s operations. A former spokesman on the fire referred to it as their “Bible.”
Included are weather forecasts and fire behavior predictions — critical intelligence for crews on the fireline.
Lightning sparked the Cougar Creek Fire nearly a month ago 20 miles northwest of Entiat. It’s since grown to more than 40,000 acres. Officials estimate it’s 40 percent contained. Aiding the crews on the firelines and the managers developing strategies are fire behavior analysts, a small group of long-time wildland firefighters who forecast the fire’s next move.
“The information we provide to the team and the firefighters is to help keep them safe and help us keep the community safe, that’s number one,” said Fire Behavior Analyst Chris Johnson.