Wildfire in East Slopes Northern Cascades, Washington

The Cougar Creek Wildfire 12 miles northwest of Ardenvoir was started by lightning in late July. During the month of August the fire grew and consumed 42,712 acres of timber and brush. While the fire burned in unpopulated forest land, the margins of the fire did threaten nearby homes at times, however no structures were lost. The firefighting resources necessary to bring the fire under control were estimated at 42.3 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.