Awatchfire

Skamania County, Washington

High Lava Fire

Burning 14.0 miles east of Yacolt and 14.7 miles south-east of Cougar, since Thursday 23 July.

Map of Washington. The High Lava Fire burns 88 miles from Olympia and 90 miles from Yakima, and 88 miles from the state capital, Olympia.
The fire sits 88 miles from Olympia and 90 miles from Yakima.

2,899

acres burned so far — about 5 square miles

83

days burning so far

95%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 9:09am today

The High Lava Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. Nothing has given off fresh heat for 1205 hours.

No fresh look at this fire for 1205 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the High Lava 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

1205hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 4:20am on Wednesday, local time.

0readings

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

13.5miles

is how close the heat has come to Yacolt 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 Cougar is 13.9 miles, None in the last day.

2.3miles

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

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.

Conditions measured 5.4 miles from the fire: 59°F, air at 50% humidity, a 3 mph wind out of the south-east.

How it got here

Three days of record on a day-85 fire

The record here begins at 2:34am on 24 Aug and runs to 4:21am on 26 Aug — 50 hours, 108 readings of heat. The fire is on day 85, so the first 82 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 High Lava 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 Mon 24 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon24 Aug

    First readings

    • 20 heat readings
    • Heat from 2:34am to 9:19pm
    • Spread 1.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning, afternoon and night
  2. Map for Tue 25 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue25 Aug

    The fiercest day

    • 64 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 1.6 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:15am to 3:01pm
    • Spread 2.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn, morning and afternoon
  3. Map for Wed 26 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed26 Auglatest

    Cooling off

    • 24 heat readings
    • Energy 91% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:41am to 4:21am
    • Spread 2.3 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. Thursday 23 July

    First reported

  2. Sunday 23 August

    1,915 acres on record — 25% contained, 329 personnel assigned

    1,915 ac · 25% held · 329 crew

  3. Tuesday 25 August

    Grew to 1,981 acres — 292 personnel

    1,981 ac · 25% held · 292 crew

  4. Wednesday 26 August

    Grew to 2,771 acres — 303 personnel

    2,771 ac · 25% held · 303 crew

  5. Thursday 27 August

    Grew to 2,776 acres — 260 personnel

    2,776 ac · 25% held · 260 crew

  6. Friday 28 August

    Grew to 2,871 acres — containment 23%, 254 personnel

    2,871 ac · 23% held · 254 crew

  7. Saturday 29 August

    Grew to 2,894 acres — containment 30%, 250 personnel

    2,894 ac · 30% held · 250 crew

  8. Tuesday 1 September

    Containment 38% — 234 personnel

    2,894 ac · 38% held · 234 crew

  9. Wednesday 2 September

    Containment 39% — 188 personnel

    2,894 ac · 39% held · 188 crew

  10. Thursday 3 September

    Containment 44% — 142 personnel

    2,894 ac · 44% held · 142 crew

  11. Friday 4 September

    Grew to 2,899 acres — containment 63%, 111 personnel

    2,899 ac · 63% held · 111 crew

  12. Wednesday 16 September

    Containment 60% — 40 personnel

    2,899 ac · 60% held · 40 crew

  13. Thursday 17 September

    Containment 80% — 33 personnel

    2,899 ac · 80% held · 33 crew

  14. Wednesday 23 September

    Containment 85% — 38 personnel

    2,899 ac · 85% held · 38 crew

  15. Thursday 1 October

    Containment 90% — 16 personnel

    2,899 ac · 90% held · 16 crew

  16. Thursday 8 October

    Containment 95% — 4 personnel

    2,899 ac · 95% held · 4 crew

95% of the perimeter is being reported as held. 4 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 2,899 now. Nothing has looked at it for 1205 hours, and the record still lists it as active.