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Pioneer Fire Update for Saturday, June 22, 2024

 CHELAN, Wash. — The Pioneer Fire is burning in the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness Area in the Chelan Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and on private land 31 miles northwest of Chelan.  Stehekin, Chelan and Manson are open and continue to welcome visitors. 

Strategic water drops are effectively holding the fire between Meadow Creek and Prince Creek. Fire movement is progressing slightly northeastward in the Meadow Creek drainage up lake of the fire area and very slowly into Prince Creek down lake.

Today, crews will continue structure protection work from the Flick Creek drainage north and along the lake to Stehekin. Firefighters will begin implementing and assessing contingency lines around Stehekin.

Friday, up lake structure protection was completed from Moore Point to Hunts Bluff. Crews also finished building handline from the Fish Creek Trail to a natural rock feature on the southwest face of Moore Mountain. 

Logistics personnel loaded seven pickups, seven UTVs, a fuel tender, two trucks loaded with supplies, and six portapotties onto a barge for delivery to the Stehekin camp. Local passenger boats are being used to transport large numbers of firefighters as they arrive.

Fire resources are nearing completion of their initial objective of establishing point protection around the homes and structures along the lakeshore. They are now shifting to implementation of longer-term suppression strategies, starting with construction of indirect lines to protect the communities up lake and down lake of the fire area.

Down lake, prep work on the Coyote Ridge line will move forward with masticator work, and on the Nelson Butte line with a dozer and masticator working in tandem. Crews will be scouting a proposed control line high up on the ridge between South Navarre Campground and Red Butte to connect the 8200 and 8020 road systems. Fire personnel are also starting to assess structures and infrastructure for structure protection down lake between Deer Point and Dutch Harbor.

The Roads group has completed 23 miles of grading and 14 miles of brushing on the Grade Creek Road (8200). 

EVACUATIONS: Evacuation levels have not changed since Sunday, June 16. Please visit County of Chelan, Washington for the most current information on evacuations.

Smoke & Air Quality: Check current air quality conditions at https://bit.ly/PioneerFireSmoke. Learn more about health impacts and becoming Smoke Ready at smokeready.org.

To receive fire updates via email, sign up at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/PndMhvq 

Public information: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560760893080

E-mail: 2024.pioneer@firenet.gov

Phone: 509-210-2926 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

Washington Smoke Blog: https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/