Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Bill Slosson, with the Washington State Patrol sent out the following Press Memo:

Newhalem, WA- State fire assistance has been mobilized under the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan in support of local firefighters working to contain the Upper Skagit Complex Fire located north of the community of Newhalem in Whatcom County.

  Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste authorized the mobilization of state firefighting resources on August 24, 2015 at 15:30 pm at the request of Assistant Chief Hagen with the City of Seattle Fire Department.

The fire started at approximately 12:00 am on August 10, 2015.  The cause of the fire is listed as lightening. **

The fire has grown to an estimated 4000 acres and is threatening 25 residences, 50 other industrial buildings, and one large Power House.  Level 3 evacuation orders are in place for  the threatened residences.  Please note: We will receive the official numbers later today from Incident Command.

 Mobilization specialists from the Fire Protection Bureau have ordered an Inter Urban Task Force to supplement the resources already fighting the fire.

 The State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Camp Murray has been activated to Phase III   to coordinate state assistance for the Upper Skagit Complex Fire.  When State Fire Marshal personnel become available they will be on scene to coordinate dispatch of resources, and personnel are already staffing the State EOC.

Under the State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan, the Fire Protection Bureau coordinates the initial dispatch and continued administrative oversight of resources and personnel for the duration of the incident.  The Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide a process to quickly notify, assemble and deploy fire service personnel, equipment and other resources from around the state when fires, disasters or other events exceed the capacity of local jurisdictions.

More information about the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan, including why or how they use it, please click the following link.   www.wsp.wa.gov/fire/mobilization.htm.

Source: WA State Patrol Press Memo