Helicopters were hauling water to protect structures in Stehekin Landing/Inciweb

Firefighters in North Cascades National Park were working to protect facilities in and around Stehekin Landing from the Pioneer Fire, a nearly 34,000-acre blaze that was just 12 percent contained as of Thursday morning.

An evacuation order for Stehekin Landing was issued on Sunday. Work since then has involved establishing firelines around the community, including clearing brush and leaf litter as well as felling standing dead trees that could fall across the fireline. Water pumps with hoselays and sprinklers were also being set up throughout the community to further protect structures and the fireline.

Around buildings firefighters were creating fire lines, while helicopters with buckets were hauling water from Lake Chelan to dump near structures were needed.

The fire, which was spotted June 8, was being fed by grasses, heavy downed woody material, young conifer stands, and shrub patches, according to the incident management team.

The weather was not helping the nearly 700 firefighters on the fire, with the forecast calling for temperatures to surge into the 80s and 90s for most elevations with the Stehekin canyon likely to reach triple-digit heat on Friday. This wwas expected to be accompanied by poor overnight recoveries of 35 to 50 percent humidity and afternoon humidity around 20 percent or lower.  

"Warming and drying trend will begin to influence fire behavior with smoldering areas transitioning to spreading surface fire where heat sources are present," the Thursday morning report said.