Mother Nature is expected to help firefighters fight the Schneider Springs Fire Friday and into the weekend. The fire is now at 31% containment.

THE BLAZE BURNED THURSDAY AND GREW BECAUSE OF THE WARM TEMPS

The fire, which started August 3 by a lightning strike grew from 102,819 acres Thursday to 104,800 acres Friday. But cooler weather in the forecast could help firefighters gain even more control over the next several days.
Officials with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest say on Thursday firefighters continued work to protect structures in and around the communities of Cliffdell, Goose Prairie, and Bumping Lake. That work continues Friday.

FIREFIGHTERS EXPECT RAIN NEAR BUMPING LAKE

A press release says "temperatures will begin a cooling trend with rain forecast, especially on the west side near Bumping Lake. With the change in the weather, fire activity will likely diminish. Firefighters along the north side of the fire will resume patrolling the communities of Cliffdell, Goose Prairie, and Bumping Lake to provide structure protection. Also, crews will continue to improve containment lines within the Forest Road 1709 and 1706 area. Crews on the south side of the fire will patrol and monitor the area."

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There's a lot of people and resources on the fire but the number is shrinking. On Monday 671 resources were on the fire. Friday the number is 583 which includes;
Crews (8); Engines (34); Dozers (6); Air Resources (3); Other Heavy Equipment (27)
The helicopters dumping water on the fire are based at the Yakima Airport and fly to and from the airport during the day for refueling.

EVACUATION LEVELS AND CLOSURES REMAIN THE SAME

Evacuation levels have not changed since Monday.

LEVEL 2: Bumping River Road corridor from north to south; Highway 410 corridor from Salmon Cove to Pinecliff; LEVEL 1: Highway 410 corridor from Pinecliff to the junction of U.S. Route 12, and from U.S. 12 at Hwy 410 west to Tieton Reservoir Rd. See map at Yakima Valley Emergency Management: https://www.facebook.com/YakimaCountyOEM . Sign up for alerts at Yakima County geo-specific emergency alert system: https://www.yakimacounty.us/2222/Alert-Yakima

Closures: An area closure for National Forest System lands is in effect. The closure order and map are available at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/7775/. Campfires are prohibited throughout the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. All Washington Department of Natural Resources managed lands in the fire area are temporarily closed, more at: https://www.dnr.wa.gov/dnr-closure-eastern-2021. A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place over the fire area. If You Fly We Can’t Fly https://knowbeforeyoufly.org/home.

Firefighters are hoping for full containment by October 1 but the fight continues until that date.