Overview
- Three separate fires — the long‑running Three Queens, the recently expanded King, and the lightning‑started Goat — remain active and have prompted Level 1–3 evacuation orders and expanded forest and Pacific Crest Trail closures.
- Firefighters report the Three Queens has grown to roughly 6,700 acres while the King has expanded to several hundred acres and the Goat is burning in steep, rugged timber that limits direct attack.
- Incident teams are focusing on indirect containment lines, prepped contingency roads, aviation water drops, hotshot crews and installed sprinkler systems to protect homes, bridges and campgrounds near Salmon La Sac and the Cle Elum River.
- Local communities are facing heavy smoke, canceled recreation and lost tourism revenue, and some residents are taking ad hoc steps to protect property such as buying an old fire engine for structure defense.
- Statewide lightning over the weekend produced about 400 strikes that sparked new fires and forecasters expect a peak of hot, dry, unstable weather that could increase fire activity and complicate suppression over the next 48 hours.