Skykomish residents told to be prepared for evacuation as Bolt Creek Fire continues to burn

Evacuation orders have been raised once again for some people affected by the Bolt Creek Fire burning in Snohomish and King counties.

Those in Skykomish, and in some communities along the Old Cascade Highway west and east of town, are now under level two evacuation orders. That means "be ready to leave."

Incident commander Kevin Griffey says there's also a potential for increased fire activity Monday.

"We're going to be into a fire weather watch, which means increased fire activity throughout the next 72 hours," Griffey said. "We've brought in extra resources to deal with that increased activity for days and nights, we've got helicopters on standby ... ready to come in. If the activity increases enough, we'll order that up."

Griffey also says area residents could notice more smoke from the fire today, especially in valleys and ridge tops.

With warm, breezy conditions, combined with low humidity levels on the way, Monday could be another smoky day in parts of Western Washington.

"A lot of it will depend on the fire behavior today," said Jeff Michalski with the National Weather Service. "Cause a derogation in air quality but it's not expected to last or be as worse as it was when these fire started a few weeks ago."

Michalski says rain is in the forecast for Wednesday and maybe Thursday. That should help scrub some of the smoke from the air and push it toward Eastern Washington.

During a recent video address, Griffey also noted that an emerging concern firefighters have around the Bolt Creek Fire is dealing with traffic. U.S. Route 2 has reopened in the area and drivers are reportedly zooming past fire rigs. He is asking drivers in to slow down, especially around fire-fighting operations.

The Bolt Creek Fire has burned more than 11,000 acres since Sept. 10.