CARLTON — One of three fires burning in the lower Methow Valley was active Wednesday night, prompting firefighters to burn out areas behind a structure in Gold Creek.

The Buckhorn Fire is still threatening 26 residences in the area, where homeowners are still advised not to return to their homes, fire spokeswoman Lauren Maloney said today.

She said firefighters worked through the night on the Buckhorn Fire, one of three blazes in the Okanogan Complex.

Maloney said all three fires total 2,518 acres, a figure determined by infrared mapping on Wednesday night. However, she said, fire officials don’t have a break-out of acreage for each of the three fires in the complex, which in addition to Buckhorn, includes the Hunter Mountain Fire, estimated at 200 acres, and the Leecher Fire, formerly called the Texas Creek Fire.

The incident management team that arrived in the Methow Valley on Wednesday to assume management of these fires is still setting up camp.

Maloney said crews have a line around most of the Leecher Fire, and are making progress on the Hunter Mountain Fire, where smokejumpers were sent in to fight the more remote portions of that blaze.

“We anticipate the fires to be more active today,” she added.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512

mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com