Fire activity continues to produce smoke across the Olympic Peninsula, although the four naturally-caused wildfires are still deep in remote wilderness.

According to an Olympic National Park press release on Aug. 26, aerial and ground monitoring continues. Ground crews continue working on structure protection, as needed, in terms of camp shelters and bridges, etc.

"The heavy amount of smoke is due to the extreme quantities of fuel and burnable materials," according to an ONP press release. "Smoke continues to settle into surrounding valleys at night, and early into the morning but has been lifting during the day."

Forecasts are showing cooler and damper weather expected to arrive Sunday evening, Aug. 28.

More helicopter water drops and supply delivery are needed, so a Temporary Flight Restriction order has been expanded in the fire areas. Launching drones (unmanned aircraft systems) in national parks is illegal; any drone near a firefighting operation shuts down helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft response.

Thursday, crews continued to reinforce structure protection and were successful at effectively prepping the Wilder Hiker Shelter and Botten Cabin. They also placed fire retardant foil wrap on the Godkin Bridge for infrastructure protection.

A combination of aerial and ground monitoring over all four fires were in effect. A short crew of three firefighters were inserted at the Ignar Fire near Pyrites Creek to monitor and help notify hikers of potential hazards in the area. Two other short squads are to be inserted and assigned to help monitor fire activity in the Hayes and Godkin fire areas.

Learn more about the Godkin, Hayes, Cox Valley and Ignar fires by checking either of these sites:

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4906/

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