By Pepper Fisher

NEAH BAY, Wash. — There are three wildfires burning on the Makah Indian Reservation at Neah Bay. The fires were first reported in the early morning hours Thursday by local residents.

Tribal Chairman TJ Greene describes the situation as of 1:00pm.

“The main fire currently is on the Cape, and there’s a second fire at the Hobuck Lake vicinity. And in both of those locations, the Cape fire is approximately 100 acres and the Hobuck fire is approximately 20 acres. We have a third fire in the interior of the reservation that’s currently about two acres in size.”

Chairman Greene said all 3 areas are locations of recent logging where slash burns had taken place, and he suspects embers were reignited when 30-50 mph winds began overnight. He said the primary fuel feeding the fires so far is forest debris from logging, as opposed to live trees, and hopes it stays that way. In the meantime, they’re getting plenty of help fighting the fires today.

“DNR personnel, they are on site and actively fighting the fire. They’re using some of the local resources, we have some road builders in the area, some of the local construction companies, that have dozers and excavators to help set the fire lines. And then, in addition to that, there are two helicopters, Department of Natural Resources helicopters, that are dispatched to the area. But due to the high winds, they’re on standby.”

Greene said he’s also grateful for the Emergency Operations personnel sent from the Sheriff’s Office to help put together a command center during the firefight.

There were earlier reports of evacuations this morning, but Greene said the very hot, fast moving fire ran into a wetland area and stalled, so those people are safe for now. He said there is still a chance people near the Cape fire will have to evacuate if it continues to grow.

Greene had one more message for the folks in the area before he went back to work.

“If you could do me a favor, I’d really appreciate it. In case any of our residents are listening, we really want them to stay away from these locations, and to let the firefighters do their work without having to worry about any traffic from the public. And we want to make sure that people stay safe. And so, we know that this kind of thing doesn’t happen, and people want to go look and see it with their own eyes, but we really need people to avoid these locations of Hobuck and the Cape.”

(Photo courtesy of US Coast Guard.)