Wildfire — Western Okanogan County, Washington

2021-09-09 to 2021-09-30 · Western Okanogan County, Washington

Event narrative

The Cedar Creek, Delancy, and Varden wildfires were ignited by lightning during passing widespread thunderstorms, from July 8 to 11th, near Mazama. There was minimal activity by the Delancy Fire, which grew to 225 acres. Varden Fire grew 700 acres before merging with, and from then on referred to as, Cedar Creek Fire. This pair of fires burned a total 56,572 acres of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest with containment by the end of September. There was very steep and rocky terrain, which made fire fighting efforts difficult. There are no known injuries/fatalities or structures damaged. The cost of the firefighting resources required to contain the three fires was calculated at a total of $41,562,323.

Wider weather episode

Four wildfires, ignited between July 7th and 16th, burned over 120,000 acres of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and public land in Okanogan County. These included the Cedar Creek, Varden, Cub Creek 2, and Delancy fires. All fires were fueled by many days of red flag conditions. Increased humidity, cooler temperatures, and precipitation helped with slow containment.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 988690. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.