Awatchfire

Okanogan County, Washington

Ptarmigan Fire

Map of Washington. The Ptarmigan Fire burns 86 miles from Bellingham and 122 miles from Seattle, and 169 miles from the state capital, Olympia.
The fire sits 86 miles from Bellingham and 122 miles from Seattle.

25,566

acres burned so far — about 40 square miles

90

days burning so far

90%

of the perimeter held

The picture as of 9:09am today

The Ptarmigan Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. Nothing has given off fresh heat for 582 hours.

No fresh look at this fire for 582 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the Ptarmigan 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

582hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 3:30am on Monday, local time.

0readings

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

5.2miles

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 21.4 miles from the fire: 42°F, air at 99% humidity, a 0 mph wind out of the north-east.

How it got here

Six days of record on a day-91 fire

The record here begins at 3:13am on 22 Aug and runs to 3:30am on 21 Sep — 720 hours, 52 readings of heat. The fire is on day 91, so the first 85 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 Ptarmigan Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 243 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 6 days of record

  1. Map for Sat 22 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sat22 Aug

    First readings

    • 23 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Heat from 3:13am to 2:21pm
    • Spread 5.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  2. Map for Tue 25 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue25 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 7 heat readings
    • Energy 84% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:42pm to 3:03pm
    • Spread 4.3 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the afternoon
  3. Map for Wed 26 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed26 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 17 heat readings
    • Energy 3.3 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:43am to 3:44pm
    • Spread 5.2 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  4. Map for Thu 27 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu27 Aug

    Cooling off

    • 3 heat readings
    • Energy 97% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:58am to 3:17am
    • Spread 4.3 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  5. Map for Fri 28 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri28 Aug

    Flaring up

    • 1 heat readings
    • Energy 3.0 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:08pm to 2:08pm
    • Spread 1.3 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the afternoon
  6. Map for Mon 21 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon21 Seplatest

    Cooling off

    • 1 heat readings
    • Energy 89% down on the day before
    • Heat from 3:30am to 3:30am
    • Spread 4.2 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. Friday 17 July

    First reported

  2. Sunday 23 August

    24,770 acres on record — 55% contained, 42 personnel assigned

    24,770 ac · 55% held · 42 crew

  3. Saturday 29 August

    Grew to 25,104 acres

    25,104 ac · 55% held · 42 crew

  4. Sunday 30 August

    Grew to 25,166 acres — 38 personnel

    25,166 ac · 55% held · 38 crew

  5. Wednesday 2 September

    Containment 73%

    25,166 ac · 73% held · 38 crew

  6. Monday 28 September

    Containment 75% — 2 personnel

    25,166 ac · 75% held · 2 crew

  7. Thursday 8 October

    Grew to 25,566 acres — containment 90%

    25,566 ac · 90% held · 2 crew

90% of the perimeter is being reported as held. 2 people are assigned to it. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 25,566 now. Nothing has looked at it for 582 hours, and the record still lists it as active.