Is everyone seeing whats going on around Cle Elum? Its crazy. I was driving back from Grandview on Monday and actually saw the early stages of it. Black clouds of smoke were all the way to Ellensburg. I thought it was weather moving in because of the intense rotations on the windmills. As I got closer to Cle Elum I began to see small flames and black hillsides. This went on for a while. I passed three different fire departments on their way from Yakima and when I got off of Snoqualmie Pass, I saw a few trucks from Gig Harbor FD heading that way. Hopefully everyone evacuates and survives alright. I know when I was passing through people were at the fruit markets like nothing was going on.. I will try to post pictures tomorrow sometime.

yeah its really bad, when it first started it jumped 25,000 acres over night... my friend Jody is about a mile from the southeast corner of the fire, my friend Kristen was evacuated and got to return just a little bit ago, and my friend Chelsea lost her hunting cabin to the fire.... i cannot get ahold of my good friend Jake, his cabin is in Cooke Canyon, i had asked Jody if it was ok there and he said it should be, unless the fire tears up through the ridgeline into the canyons....

right now its around 25% contained, but with the heat and the winds they are having, it could change backwards or forwards at any moment... everyone i know over there is pretty scared, and its kinda unnerving knowing you cant do anything to help them really... Jody has been driving around scooping up peoples pets and taking them to the places in Cle Elum...

sad situation for sure...

I saw the map on King5 news and it looks to be in the NW section of the Valley. It has moved fairly far east. Hope it doesn't go into the area I hunt.

yeah it can ruin alot of area, the 3 canyons there are Coleman, Cooke, and the well known Clockum... Cooke is in between the 2... theres also alot of fuel in the area if it infact does make it into them... im sure they are thinking about that already tho, and likely taking precautions... but fires are a weird thing, they tend to do what they want... especially in conditions like that...

theres also alot of wildlife in the area...

heres a couple pics, one is a DNR picture from early yesterday i believe,



this pic is from a friend, its Hayward Hill looking down into the Ellensburg Ranches Rd area... as you can see, everything is gone....



here is the Kittitas County scanner if you would like to listen in on whats going on over there right now...

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=cwp&ctid=2976

2Many.
I believe it was a private contractor working on a WDOT project.

One of my customers has a home right near where the fire started. The west wind kept it confined to the hillside just east of her home. She spend two solid days with her husband wetting everything down at their place just in case the wind shifted.

here is a link from my friend Jody, if you click Basemap, then Imagery, you can zoom down into the areas and see structures and such that are in the way of the fire... this doesnt show the damage, just the area

http://kitcogis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/One...d849754797a015f

also, just looking at it, i dont understand why my friend Kristen was allowed back, obviously it must be safe, for now, but i dont think its smart... she lives in Thorp...

All taken Monday afternoon driving back from Yakima



Helo dropping water


Hillside

Wow my buddies ranch is by Masterson rd I was just at his place listening to Duffy Bishop, some of the dudes from Heart (Fosset and Fisher) and Randy Hansen playing at his summer party. If it doesn't hit his ranch I imagine the depredation Elk hunting will be easy.

As much as I don't want to see people or their homes destroyed I think fire is good for some of those areas.

heres a couple pictures from this article of a pretty nice house that was completely surrounded by the fire, and it still remains.. incredible... also, if you go down mid page, click on the slideshow box on the right, there are some incredible shots in there...





http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/...s-wildfire?lite

there is 900 firefighters there now, they are hoping to get it 50% contained by tonight, but thats doubtfull...

wow... they are saying now that the smoke in the hills and valleys and such will stick around untill the first snowfalls... there is too many hotspots and fires to put them all out manually... insane...

i agree 2, the reason this fire exploded the way it did, is because there hasnt been any fires even half the size of this one to get rid of the fuel thats been building up over the years IMO... they do the controlled burns up in Coleman, Cooke, and Clockum to keep it relatively safe, because there is ALOT more fuel up there than where this fire is right now, its mainly grassy area, with some areas that are heavily wooded... and grass goes up like its nothing...

a fire of this nature in Clockum would be devastating... ive spent many hours and many miles wheeling and biking up in the canyons, and without the controlled burns it would be a recipe for disaster...

my friend Jakes cabin in Cooke is just at the base of the cliff below Clockum, his entire 40+ acres is a few pines, some other trees, and grass thats 3 feet tall and dry as paper... the whole area would be destroyed...

oh, screw Obama...

Taken by RB3. Inspired by Redhook.

I regularly hunt the areas between Cooke, Coleman and the Colockum drainages. There is a huge amount of fuel in that area. It will probably make my cow tag a lot easier to fill, so there may be an upside. That, or the elk will stay up higher longer, making the regular season pretty easy up there. Worst thing that could happen is that the elk and deer delay their migration down and we get a large die off.

All of our family in the area is either in E-burg, or in the southern portion of the valley. Mom grew up there, and I spent many a summer in E-burg area. That valley is like a second home to me.

The question is how many pictures DON'T remind you of that.

RH

Thanks for the continuing coverage. . .

welcome Dave...

you know you are going to be banned right?

Redhook is in a band?

don't you have some houses to fix up?

. banned, ban·ning, bans
1. To prohibit, especially by official decree: The city council banned billboards on most streets. See Synonyms at forbid.
2. South African Under the former system of apartheid, to deprive (a person suspected of illegal activity) of the right of free movement and association with others.
3. Archaic To curse.
n.
1. An excommunication or condemnation by church officials.
2. A prohibition imposed by law or official decree: a ban on cigarette smoking on airplanes.
3. Censure, condemnation, or disapproval expressed especially by public opinion.
4. A curse; an imprecation.
5. A summons to arms in feudal times.