OSO — A wildfire west of Oso continued to burn Friday, reaching about 130 acres by 4 p.m.
No homes are threatened by the fire, and no injuries have been reported. It started Thursday night on a steep slope near the Snohomish-Skagit county line, a few miles from the Oso mudslide site, officials said. It was burning on state and private lands.
Two helicopters were fighting the fire from above on Friday, and nearly 60 firefighters were on scene from the state Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service and various local fire departments.
“We’ll have people keeping an eye on it all night,” DNR spokesman Joe Smillie said.
The winds shifted Friday, bringing in cooler air that helped slow down the fire growth. Rolling debris was a concern for ground crews due to the slope of about 60 degrees.
The cause remains under investigation, the agency reported. New firefighting crews were scheduled to come in Saturday.
On Friday evening, crews also were fighting a small forest fire east of Gold Bar. That fire covered about 15 acres near Forest Service Road 62.
At least two other wildfires have been reported in the North Cascades in the past week.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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