The Paradise fire is burning in Olympic National Park in the Queets River drainage, advancing upward on the south flank of Pelton Peak.

Park officials say that while it may seem unusual to have a fire of this size burning in a rain forest, this is a reflection of severe conditions – the driest spring in over 100 years and a snowpack that was only 14 percent of average.

Crews are working to confine this fire north of the Queets River, suppressing it where needed and allowing it to benefit the ecosystem where possible.

Recent lightning strikes have ignited fires all over the northwest and Canada including two on the Olympic Peninsula: the Cabin Creek and Gold Fires. With the cooler weather and minimal activity on the Paradise Fire, some resources will be loaned to the Olympic National Forest for a few days to assist with these new fires.

As helicopter operations continue on the Paradise Fire, National Park Service fisheries biologists conducted snorkeling surveys of the Queets River on Aug. 13, ensuring minimal impact on the aquatic systems. Surveys confirmed operations have not significantly impacted the ecosystem based on comparison with previous data sets of similar surveys.

Smoke from fires around the region is carried in the upper level winds for hundreds of miles. The smoke that is currently impacting the peninsula has been tracked from as far away as southeast Oregon.

To see the most up to date weather patterns that are transporting the smoke, check out http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/fire.html or http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/sat_west.html.

There were 188 new fires around the nation yesterday, 27 of them were in the northwest. The national situation report is updated daily with the priority fires and their statistics, https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf.

Canada’s national wildland fire situation report is available at http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report.