The Skyo Fire had grown to 253 acres on Friday as the Western Washington Type 3 Incident Management Team (WWIMT) continued its response to the East Lewis County blaze.
The fire was 38% contained as of Friday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Officials from the WWIMT, Lewis County Department of Emergency Management and USFS held a Skyo Fire meeting at the Packwood Community Center at 5 p.m. on Friday to discuss emergency management and community preparedness.
The public meeting — also available on Zoom — was held after The Chronicle’s press deadline. Look for an updated article on chronline.com.
Skyo Mountain is located three miles west of Packwood. Nearby residents remained on a Level One evacuation notice Friday, which indicates a potential threat to the area, but no immediate danger.
The notice applies specifically to residents living on the north side of the Cowlitz River, in the area adjacent to the fire.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office issued the “Get Ready” notice on July 25.
An upgrade to Level Two, or “Get Set,” would require residents to “be prepared to leave within hours,” officials said.
Level Three, or “Go Now,” is considered a mandatory and immediate evacuation notice.
The Skyo Fire was first reported by the computer-aided dispatch system WildCAD just before 10 p.m. on July 22.
In a joint news release from the USFS, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and WWIMT, officials on Friday said “burnout operations” conducted the day before had successfully removed fuel “between the head of the fire and indirect containment lines.”
The operations were scheduled to continue on Friday ahead of a cold front and possible windy conditions over the weekend.
“The intent is to secure this fire in place in anticipation of next week's prolonged warming and drying trend,” officials said. “The goal of conducting burnout operations is to prevent fire from escaping existing firelines.”
Officials said the operations can lead to increased smoke in the area.
“Persons affected by smoke might consider alternatives to being near the fire area,” officials said. “Smoke will continue to disperse to the east during the afternoon hours but may settle into the valley through the evening and overnight.”
According to the agencies, containment lines had improved on the “south and west flanks of the fire, and a small burnout was completed on the west side to reinforce containment lines.”
“Mop-up of the south and west flanks is fully underway and will continue over the next several days,” officials said in the release.
Aircraft are assisting fire personnel on the ground.
“As improvements to firelines continue, the containment percentage of the fire will continue to increase,” officials said.
Campfires have been banned in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest until further notice.
To learn more about the Skyo Fire and other fires in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest area, visit www.facebook.com/GiffordPinchot.
To learn of any potential evacuation notices in Lewis County, sign up for Lewis County Alerts at https://tinyurl.com/9uzvvb4n.
