Structures prepped at Elk Lake in case fire moves closer

The Nash Fire is still burning within the Three Sisters Wilderness, about four miles from the popular campsites like Elk Lake along the Cascade Lakes Highway.

But with days more hot, windy weather to contend with, authorities were conducting extensive work Sunday, preparing the resort area’s vacation homes and other structures, in case the fire heads in that direction.

A structure protection group was conducting triage of infrastructure in the Elk Lake area. including the resort, 40-plus recreation homes and the historic Forest Service Elk Lake Guard Station, officials s.

“There were literally tons of supplies and equipment, as well as several teams of firefighting crews that moved in to prepare to defend the Elk Lake area,” Scott Letourneau, president of the Elk Lake Cabin Owners Association, said Sunday evening.

Letourneau described a scene of “chain saws, slash piles, chipper/haulers, hand crews moving firewood piles away from structures.”

Structural protection tanker-pumpers from Washington state brought in and hoses, pumps, valves and sprinklers being put in place, Letourneau said.

“Some of the structures date from the early 1900s, and many of the cabins, though simple, have been in the same family for generations,” he added.