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Size:    11,021 acres                                  Start Date:  18 August 2023, 1600hrs

Point of origin: Under Investigation

Containment: 11%

Cause: Under Investigation

Total personnel: 975

Resources: 60 engines l 30 crews l 11 bulldozers l 20 water tenders l 6 helicopters
 

Current Situation: The strategy remains full suppression with 24-hour operations and an emphasis on direct attack efforts. Activities in the previous 24 hours included structure protection, line construction, mop up efforts, and direct suppression utilizing engines, hand crews, and bulldozers. Firefighters continued to take advantage of reduced fire activity due to recent rainfall in making progress in line improvement and structure protection.

Today’s activities: Priorities for the next few days continue to focus on structure protection, fire line improvement to minimize acres burned, and mop-up activities close to structures. Suppression, line construction and line improvement activities with engines, hand crews and bull dozers will continue on the fire’s interior around structures and the full perimeter. The eastern flank of the fire will see dozer line improvement, hand line construction/improvement, and mop-up activities. Crews on the northern and western flanks will continue to increase the depth of mop-up to strengthen containment lines and patrol the area. Linking established line together along the eastern flank down to the southern flank has seen good progress and is ongoing. A dedicated structure group will continue to provide structure protection, assess damage, and gather data. Air assets will remain assigned to the fire to support ground efforts.

Evacuations: Level 3 Evacuations (Go – Leave Immediately) are still in effect for areas east and southeast of Elk. See the attached map. For updated evacuation maps of Spokane County are available here www.facebook.com/GEGEmergencyMgt and for evacuation maps of Pend Oreille County are here www.facebook.com/pocsheriff. Please note: evacuation levels are expected to change over the course of the next few days. Be sure to reference official county evacuation information for the latest evacuation levels. Spokane County has introduced a new tool for pin-pointing your address and its corresponding evacuation status: https://arcg.is/1z98v10.

Weather: Temperatures will be in the mid-80s today, with light winds shifting direction throughout the day. Average humidity in the fire area will be approximately 25% and the warming and drying trend after Tuesday’s rainfall continues into tomorrow and the weekend.  Fire behavior is expected to slowly increase with the weather trend.

Smoke Outlook: Washington State Department of Ecology has up to date air quality information at: enviwa.ecology.wa.gov/home/map.

Fire Information:(509) 508-3323 (8:00am – 8:00pm)       Email: 2023.oregon@firenet.gov

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/newfireinfo         Inciweb: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/wanes-oregon-fire