34 New Personnel Join Fight Against Pioneer Fire, Still 1.5 Miles From Stehekin
Monday (July 29) was a relatively inactive day for the Pioneer Fire on the northern shores of Lake Chelan, but the town of Stehekin remains directly in its crosshairs.
The blaze, which began on June 8 from undetermined causes, remains only about a mile-and-a-half from the small community of 95 residents, all of whom are under a Level 3 evacuation notice.
Fire information spokesperson, Lauren Durocher, says crews are grateful for the cooler weather the region's been experiencing to start the week.
"Firefighters have been taking advantage of that and have been doing helicopter bucket drops along the fire's northern edge along with some scooper planes that have also been working to put more water on the edges of the fire to cool things down and really slow its progress."
The past 24 hours have also seen an increase of 34 personnel who are assigned to the fire.
"We have personnel working on the fire who are from all over the Northwest," says Durocher. "We even have personnel coming in from further afield that are out of our Northwest Region. It's a real group effort in getting the right tools and personnel here to do the job."
There are now a total of 732 personnel assigned to the Pioneer Fire, which is currently listed at 33,276 acres and 15% containment.
Despite the advantages brought by the cooler weather to start the week, fire managers have growing concerns about a pattern of very hot and dry weather that will be moving over the region by the end of the week, something Durocher says could dramatically change the current situation.
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