With cooler, rainy weather bolstering their weekend efforts, firefighters have nearly finished containing two Western Washington wildfires.
The Proctor Creek fire, near Gold Bar, has burned 352 acres and is now 90 percent contained. The Hot Shot fire near Oso, which was initially thought to be much larger, burned 67 acres, and firefighters have it about 50 percent contained.
Randall Shepard, a spokesman for the team managing the fires, said firefighters are creating 100-foot buffers devoid of smoke or heat around the perimeters of the fires.
“We’ve nearly accomplished that on Proctor. It might be done as early as today,” he said. “We’re not that far behind on Hot Shot. It won’t be an extended period of time before that is buttoned up as well.”
Shepard said the weekend’s cool weather and sprinkling of rain helped put the fire on its heels.
“That just basically shut down the fire behavior that contributed to the initial start and spread of those fires,” he said. “Normally, this time of year, we wouldn’t expect a fire of those proportions. For it to get up and do what it did, that’s weather-related.”