stehekin

Evacuation notices for the Pioneer Fire were reduced to Level 2 for Stehekin Valley, which means the area is now only open to residents and property owners.

There's been frustration among residents and elected office holders that not enough was done to put the fire out during its early stages.

Chelan County Emergency Management announced the downgrade from Level 3 Sunday for the Stehekin Valley, from High Bridge south to Adams Point.

Fire spokesperson Melanie Banton says special measures have been taken to keep the flames from harming those buildings.

Firefighters have spared every structure in Stehekin from the advancing Pioneer Fire, sometimes by a matter of a few feet.  Not a single structure has been damaged according to California Incident Management Team 15 which led a Media tour into the area on Saturday. ...

The community gets electricity off a micro-grid which is powered by a small hydro power plant with three generators.

The fire is perilously close to structures in Stehekin after edging closer by the day as it continues to spread northward along Lake Chelan.

Fire information spokesperson Anneta Pritchard says the fire jumped a couple of creeks over the weekend and is on a slope above the town.

The containment level of the Pioneer Fire on the northern shores of Lake Chelan has dropped over the past 24 hours. The fire, which was officially sparked by "undetermined" causes on June 8, had been listed as 14-15% contained for much of July but has been lowered to 12% as of this morning (Thursday, August 1)...

The Pioneer Fire is still looming only about a mile-and-a-half to the southeast of Stehekin on the northern shores of Lake Chelan. Fire activity has remained minimal heading into the week's interior thanks to a continuing run of milder weather, and fire information spokesperson, Lauren Durocher, says crews have been hitting the fire hard at its closest points to the small community...