Missoula News

a red flag day, but a good day

Jocko Lakes Fire: More Evacuation Orders Lifted

By NewWest.Net Staff, 8-10-07

Above: Map of the Jocko Lakes Fire as of Friday, August 10. Click image to enlarge. Courtesy of the Alaska Type 1 Incident Management Team. For a photo gallery of images from the Jocko Lakes Fire, click here.

Despite Friday’s red flag winds, it was “actually a pretty good day” on the Jocko Lakes Fire west of Seeley Lake, fire information officer Tom Kempton said.

The Archibald Creek area along the fire’s northeast flank close to Seeley Lake remained active, but firefighters constructed hose and dozer line and were performing burnout operations there—“creating a little more black”—to ensure that the fire won’t creep closer to the lake and the many houses on its west side, Kempton said.

Officials feel good enough about the progress that they again modified evacuation orders. As of Friday evening, evacuation orders were conditionally lifted for about 250 residences, on top of the orders lifted Thursday. Now only 60 to 70 of the original 675 evacuated homes remain so.

Evacuation orders were lifted for the Riverview Drive area west of and adjacent to the Clearwater River. They remain in place for the northwest corner of Placid Lake and areas off of Boy Scout Road, which runs along the west side of Seeley Lake. Officials are asking the public to steer clear of the reopened roads between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. to make way for heavy firefighting equipment.

The fire grew about 700 acres Friday for a total of 19,330—about 30 square miles—with much of the growth again occurring on the south side. The fire remains 10 percent contained. More than 600 personnel were working the blaze Friday.

The fire has not yet reached Boy Scout Road, which runs along the west shore of Seeley Lake. Boy Scout Road is the trigger point for evacuating the town of Seeley Lake. If the fire hits it, “that’s the time when we would evacuate the rest of town,” fire information officer Pat Cross said Tuesday. “I’m really hoping that doesn’t happen.”

Overnight temperatures were expected to dip down into the 30s, and combined with the calm winds expected for Saturday and the inversion likely to hang over the fire area in the morning, Saturday could prove to be a productive day for firefighters, Kempton said.

On Thursday evacuation orders issued for residences and businesses on the east side of Highway 83 were lifted. The reopened areas were along Golf Drive east of Highway 83 and between the town of Seeley Lake and the Double Arrow Resort. Highway 83 itself remains restricted.

Kempton said the reopenings are “all dependent on fire behavior,” and that anyone heading back to these areas must be prepared to evacuate within 90 minutes should fire officials deem it necessary. 

Allowing evacuees to return to their homes should “return more normalcy,” Kempton said, though with such unpredictable fire behavior, “things could change minute to minute.”

The fire, which ignited last Friday, August 3, is threatening some 1,500 structures.

The fire is the nation’s No. 2 priority fire, behind the Tin Cup Fire near Darby, Montana. On Wednesday, a Type 1 incident management team from Alaska took over command. So far, about $3.8 million has been spent fighting the fire.

Fire officials are calling the fire a long-term event, one that might not really quiet until fall arrives. The surrounding communities are in for a long season watching and waiting for enough moisture to end the season. Containment is estimated for Sept. 15. As of now, the fire is exhibiting “extreme” behavior in “extreme” terrain and has “extreme” growth potential, according to reports.

Fire officials confirmed Sunday that at least one home burned in the weekend’s blow up, as the fire raced from 800 acres Saturday morning to 14,200 by Sunday. 

In addition to the one destroyed home, seven outbuildings and “other” structures were destroyed, and another primary home and a commercial property were damaged, Cross said.

“It’s an amazingly low number (of structures burned) considering how the fire was carrying on,” he said.

The fire erupted Saturday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes around Placid Lake and Seeley Lake, closing Highway 83 and prompting Gov. Schweitzer to issue an emergency declaration. 

“It just screamed,” fire information officer Ricardo “Zuni” Zuniga said. “It just ran four to five miles in about four hours.”

The Jocko Lakes Fire was reported at about 3:00 Friday, August 3. The fire first started on Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Land, but quickly spotted to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s protection on Forest Service lands.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This story will be updated throughout the day. For a roundup of all of Montana’s wildfires, check in at www.newwest.net/fire.

Have pictures of the Jocko Lakes Fire you’d like to share with New West readers? Send them to matt@newwest.net.

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