Single Publication

COW CANYON FIRE

Incident Commanders: Jeff Dimke and Bobby Shindelar 

August 7, 2022
 

Hand Crews: 13

Engines: 11

Dozers: 10

Water Tenders: 3

Helicopter: 1

FIRE INFORMATION:

509-557-0063

2022.cowcanyon@firenet.gov

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cwafireinfo

The fire is currently burning approximately 11 miles north of Naches, WA through the Manastash border of Yakima and Kittitas Counties. The Incident Command Post at the Kittitas Fairgrounds in Ellensburg is closed to all but essential personnel to help ensure the health and safety of community members and firefighters.

Weather

The warming and drying trend will continue today and into Monday with temperatures in the upper 80s across the Cow Canyon Fire. Very dry air will move over the region, leading to low relative humidity. There will be an increasing chance for showers and thunderstorms Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Operations

Fire activity decreased yesterday around the northwestern perimeter. Smoldering and creeping fire moved into remaining areas of unburned fuel inside the fire containment lines. Helicopters and scooper fixed-wing aircraft provided water drops on the northeast perimeter, knocking down a spot fire. Additional resources arrived to assist with mop-up operations yesterday, including some fire crews that were reassigned due to decreasing activity on the Vantage Highway Fire. Limited tactical firing operations were conducted in the Mud Flats area to clean up residual fuels left over from the burnout on Friday night.

Today, firefighters are working to secure the fireline in the Mud Flat area. Fire crews will be constructing additional direct fire control lines along the northwestern perimeter to secure that portion of the fire. Around the remaining fire perimeter, fire crews will continue to mop-up and patrol, looking for any remaining hot spots.  

Closures

The entirety of the Wenas Wildlife Area is temporarily closed for human safety due to the Cow Canyon Fire.

Evacuations

Level 2 and 3 evacuations are in place on the Cow Canyon Fire in both Yakima and Kittitas Counties. Evacuation details for Yakima County are located at https://www.facebook.com/YakimaCountyOEM and Kittitas County are at https://tinyurl.com/2225ruhs.