Awatchfire

Whatcom County, Washington

Electric Fire

Burning 7.6 miles north of Marblemount and 14.0 miles north-east of Rockport, since Saturday 22 August.

Map of Washington. The Electric Fire burns 48 miles from Bellingham and 83 miles from Seattle, and 130 miles from the state capital, Olympia.
The fire sits 48 miles from Bellingham and 83 miles from Seattle.

495

acres burned so far — about 0.8 square miles

53

days burning so far

100%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 9:09am today

The Electric Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. Nothing has given off fresh heat for 1182 hours.

No fresh look at this fire for 1182 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the Electric Fire. Amber flames mark every place that gave off heat in the last day; the shading is the shape of the ground.
Heat in the last day Higher ground pale, valleys dark Where another fire is recorded

1182hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 3:15am on Thursday, local time.

0readings

of heat in the last day. There is not yet an earlier stretch of record to compare that against.

6.9miles

is how close the heat has come to Marblemount at any point in the record. In the last day the nearest heat has been None miles from it, and the closest this fire has come to Rockport is 13.1 miles, None in the last day.

1.3miles

is the furthest any heat has been seen from the point on the official record — the width of the ground involved so far.

Two other fires are burning inside the same view. Falls Creek Fire started on Tuesday 25 August, 2.7 miles south-west, and has reached 0 acres. Triumph Creek Fire started on Sunday 23 August, 3.6 miles north-east, and has reached 0 acres. Their heat is counted against them, not against this fire, and the pale rings on the map mark where they are recorded.

No smoke has been recorded lying over this ground.

Where the heat is

No cluster large enough to call a separate front. The heat is in one piece.

Nothing close enough to the fire has reported the conditions on the ground.

How it got here

Three days of record on a day-55 fire

The record here begins at 3:00am on 25 Aug and runs to 3:17am on 27 Aug — 48 hours, 76 readings of heat. The fire is on day 55, so the first 52 days are missing: nothing showed up from above until the fire was large enough and the sky over it clear enough for it to be seen.

Animated map of the Electric Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 19 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 3 days of record

  1. Map for Tue 25 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue25 Aug

    First readings

    • 18 heat readings
    • Heat from 3:00am to 8:21pm
    • Spread 1.3 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, afternoon and evening
  2. Map for Wed 26 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed26 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 45 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 80% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:56am to 1:23pm
    • Spread 0.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  3. Map for Thu 27 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu27 Auglatest

    Cooling off

    • 13 heat readings
    • Energy 75% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:22am to 3:17am
    • Spread 0.6 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn

How the record has moved

Each step is a change on the interagency incident record — acreage, containment or crews — with the date it was reported. No satellite reading is involved.

  1. Saturday 22 August

    First reported at 2 acres

    2 ac

  2. Sunday 23 August

    2 acres on record

    2 ac

  3. Tuesday 25 August

    Grew to 15 acres

    15 ac

  4. Wednesday 26 August

    Grew to 100 acres

    100 ac

  5. Wednesday 26 August

    Grew to 500 acres — containment 0%, 27 personnel

    500 ac · 0% held · 27 crew

  6. Friday 28 August

    Revised to 100 acres — 28 personnel

    100 ac · 0% held · 28 crew

  7. Tuesday 1 September

    Grew to 622 acres — containment 17%, 80 personnel

    622 ac · 17% held · 80 crew

  8. Friday 4 September

    Containment 24% — 87 personnel

    622 ac · 24% held · 87 crew

  9. Tuesday 8 September

    Containment 33% — 88 personnel

    622 ac · 33% held · 88 crew

  10. Wednesday 9 September

    Containment 38% — 95 personnel

    622 ac · 38% held · 95 crew

  11. Thursday 10 September

    Revised to 494 acres — containment 36%, 85 personnel

    494 ac · 36% held · 85 crew

  12. Friday 11 September

    Containment 44% — 82 personnel

    494 ac · 44% held · 82 crew

  13. Saturday 12 September

    Grew to 495 acres — containment 46%, 78 personnel

    495 ac · 46% held · 78 crew

  14. Monday 14 September

    Containment 49% — 56 personnel

    495 ac · 49% held · 56 crew

  15. Monday 14 September

    Containment 71% — 51 personnel

    495 ac · 71% held · 51 crew

  16. Tuesday 15 September

    Containment 90% — 50 personnel

    495 ac · 90% held · 50 crew

  17. Friday 9 October

    Containment 100% — 4 personnel

    495 ac · 100% held · 4 crew

100% of the perimeter is being reported as held. 4 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 2 acres when it was first written down to 495 now. Nothing has looked at it for 1182 hours, and the record still lists it as active.