A half-acre fire is burning in Mount Rainier National Park, Superintendent Greg Dudgeon announced this morning, August 27. The Twin Firs Fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday morning, August 25, and is currently burning in old growth forest about 1200 feet north of the park’s Nisqually Road between Kautz Creek and the Twin Firs Trail.
UPDATE, AUGUST 29 — The Twin Firs Fire has been successfully contained. The Twin Firs Trail has now reopened to the public.
The Twin Firs fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday, August 25, 2023, and burned approximately half an acre between the Twin Firs Trail and Kautz Creek. Twenty-five firefighters worked to put out the fire using a combination of helicopter water drops and hand crew work. The fire did not affect any park structures.
Currently, a 20-person contract hand crew and a five-person National Park Service crew are working on the fire. Visitors will encounter large numbers of vehicles and crew members working along the roadway. Visitors should exercise extra caution and not stop between Kautz Creek and the Twin Firs trailhead. The Twin Firs Trail is closed at this time.
Yesterday, aircraft dropped water on the fire, producing heavy smoke on the park road. Current efforts are focused on felling burning snags so that ground crews can safely suppress the fire.
The fire does not present a danger to Longmire or any other park infrastructure at this time. The fire is being put out due to its proximity to Longmire and the large number of other fires burning in the area, all of them started by lightning strikes Friday morning.
The park continues to be under a fire ban in all campgrounds due to warm, dry conditions and high fire danger.