Seattle

A wildfire sparked by lightning has been burning for nearly a week in the Olympic National Park.

The 86-acre Mount Tom Creek Fire is long and narrow, burning slowly and creeping up steep forested terrain onto a ridge in the foothills of Mount Olympus, approximately six miles from the Hoh Rain Forest visitor center. It is burning in old-growth forest and is 0% contained.

“A typical Olympic fire is just that. It’s fuel and slope-driven,” said Donald Svetich, a retired U.S. Forest Service fire captain who worked at the national park for nearly thirty years.

But a wildfire in one of the dampest parts of the state in June, “that’s the anomaly,” Svetich said. Lightning fires this early in the year do happen in the Olympics, he added, “it’s just not a typical pattern.”

The park received more than an inch of rain over the weekend, but the dense tree canopy prevents rain from extinguishing the fire, according to the National Park Service.

All Hoh Rain Forest facilities remain open. But the Lake of the Gods backcountry campsite has been closed, and a campfire ban is in place inside the park.