The 110-acre wildfire burning near Woodland was 60 percent contained Wednesday, and firefighting efforts could be downsized this weekend.
“We have a high level of confidence that all the houses in this area are safe,” said Tim Dawdy, a battalion chief with Clark County Fire & Rescue who’s working on the fire.
It was cool and overcast Wednesday in the area of the Colvin Creek Fire north of Fredrickson Road. There were even a few seconds of rain in the morning, Dawdy said.
On Wednesday, a crew of Hotshots with the U.S. Forest Service, who specialize in wildfire suppression, finished building a perimeter around the fire.
“It was the steepest, nastiest part of the fire,” said Chuck Turley, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.
He estimated that the fire could be fully contained by Friday.
About 340 people were based in Castle Rock to work on the wildfire and a few others were in the area. They included firefighting crews from Utah, New Mexico and the Larch Corrections Center. No aircraft were used Wednesday, but they had been used earlier in the week to dump water on the fire.
The fire broke out just before noon Sunday on state land in the Colvin Creek drainage that had been logged, and flames spread quickly with the help of winds. By Monday evening, Washington Incident Management Team No. 5 took over fire management. Once the fire is contained, most of the firefighters will leave, and a smaller crew would be left behind to mop up the fire, Turley said.
Residents in the area have put up “thank you” signs for the firefighters, Dawdy said.
