Missoula News

wildfires

Crews ‘Nail’ Bitterroot Fires, the Bob Still Burns

By Jessica Mayrer, 7-09-07

Firefighters responded quickly over the weekend to 19 small fires in the Bitterroot National Forest, extinguishing all but two of the blazes by Monday morning.  Seventeen of the fires were ignited by Friday night’s thunderstorm, one by a downed power line and another human-caused.

“Our crews are phenomenal,” said Nan Christianson, Public Affairs Officer for the Bitterroot National Forest. “They’re just amped to nail them all.”

One of the two remaining fires, the Woods Pass fire near the Montana-Idaho border, is now contained after burning over an acre, Christianson said. 

Crews are keeping an eye on the second blaze, the Swet Fire in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Christianson said, but no structures are threatened, and for now they will not actively fight it.

Another small fire west of Darby, sparked yesterday and dubbed the Tiny Fire, is now contained at less than one acre, Christianson said.

She added that things are quieting down after Friday’s storm and no new warnings are issued for the Bitterroot Valley.

Elsewhere, the Fool Creek Fire deep in the Bob Marshall Wilderness has now burned 3,800 acres since being lit by lightning last Wednesday.  Several trails are closed in the northern part of the Lewis and Clark National Forest and also the southern part of the Flathead National Forest, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.

A crew of almost 50 is monitoring and dropping water on the Fool Creek Fire to ensure it stays within wilderness boundaries, said Punky Moore, information officer for the fire. They are also taking steps to protect Forest Service cabins and bridges in the area, Moore said. 

For updates on the Fool Creek Fire check out www.InciWeb.org and for more on the Bitterroot blazes go to http://63.196.254.151/WildWeb/WCMT-BRC.htm and click “recent incidents.”

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