Wildfire in East Slopes Northern Cascades, Washington

The Crescent Mountain Wildfire 20 miles southwest of Twisp was caused by lightning and first detected on July 29th. The fire grew through the month of August eventually consuming 52,609 acres of timber in the upper reaches of the Twisp River Valley before being contained in mid September. The fire burned in unpopulated wilderness and no structures were lost. The cost of the resources to fight the fire was estimated at 39.4 million dollars.

Very dry conditions over Eastern Washington during July and August created dry fuel conditions across the region. Scattered dry thunderstorms moving through the region during the last week of July, caused a number of wildfires some of which grew large and long lasting requiring considerable state and federal resources to contain. These large fires were generally in unpopulated forest land with no structures or homes lost. Smoke from these fires and fires in surrounding states and provinces often severely degraded air quality across eastern Washington during the month of August.