Missoula News

Montana Fire Update

Montana Fires Force More Evacuations Near Rock Creek, Wolf Creek

By Courtney Lowery, 7-31-07

UPDATED 9:13 p.m: Montana fires are acting up again this evening, forcing more evacuations north of Helena and east of Missoula as new starts reared in southwestern and western Montana.

The Meriwether Fire burning near Wolf Creek north of Helena grew at least another 5,000 acres by Tuesday afternoon to an estimated 20,750 acres as at least 60 more houses were evacuated, leaving at least 80 residences on mandatory evacuation, including those east of Holter Lake. A roadblock has been set up at Holter Lodge and the American Red Cross has set up an evacuation center at Wolf Creek School. The fire is burning in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness.

East of Missoula near Clinton and just west of the Rock Creek exit on 1-90, the Mile Marker 124 Fire has just forced the evacuations of residents in the West Fork Cramer Creek drainage. The fire was throwing up large plumes of smoke Tuesday afternoon, likely signaling growth from the 1,511 acres it was mapped at Tuesday morning. We’ll have more information about the evacuations and fire growth this evening.

The fire is threatening a Bonneville Power Administration transmission line along I-90.  If damaged, it could affect “thousands of people to say the least,” fire information officer Penny Bertram said. “It’s kind of right there.”

Air tankers hit the fire with retardant and water again Tuesday and crews were beginning to use dozers to construct line around the fire and dig hand line. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but officials say it was human caused. It started July 28.

Meanwhile, just up the Rock Creek drainage from the Mile Marker 124 blaze, the Wyman II Fire has grown to about 2,000 acres, fire information officer Sharon Sweeney said. It’s zero percent contained. The fire camp is expecting a respite from the extreme heat and high winds. The Granite County Sheriff’s Department recommended the evacuation of about 40 homes along a five to seven mile stretch of Rock Creek Road between the Sandstone/Wyman trailhead and Stony Creek, 20 miles West of Philipsburg. There is a public meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Elk Horn Lodge at 7:00 p.m.

According to Associated Press reports, the fires combined are threatening some 100 homes.

Further north, Ahorn Fire, Montana’s largest blaze of the season so far, burning the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Lewis and Clark National Forest 30 miles west of Augusta burned actively again on Tuesday in humidity of 6 percent. (In the teens is usually low, but once you get into single digits, fires really start burning.) The fire is estimated at 36,311 acres, about 10,000 acres less than first estimated Tuesday morning. (Better mapping by an aerial flight gave the more accurate acreage.) The fire’s north side—the most active so far—grew again and the south side is backing down the Deer Creek drainage about 3/4 of a mile from the end of the Benchmark road, where there is the Benchmark Administrative area and the historic Kenck Cabin. Crews are expecting the fire to continue growing north toward Sheep mountain and keep creeping east and south toward the Renshaw Mountain area, but as fire information officer Warren Bielenberg said, “with Mother Nature, one never really knows.” The fire has been largely fuel-driven and has exhibited intense, erratic behavior since it’s start July 11.

There was little firefighting going on Tuesday because the terrain is so steep and the fire burning so hot, but crews were working south of Gibson Reservoir, looking for places to anchor line and get ahead of the fire’s east and south flanks, said fire information officer Bob MacGregor.

To the east of the fire is Beaver Willow Road, private ranch acreage and cabins and homes. To the north, the fire is nearly uncontrollable, but there is a stretch of state and private grasslands to the south of Gibson that could make it a little easier to get ahead of.

To the South of of the fire, there are a number of structures, including about 65 summer lease cabins in the Benchmark area. The area from the Benchmark Trailhead to the Wood Lake Campground was evacuated last weekend. Evacuations along Beaver Willow Road is likely in the next few days, according to reports.

Monday, crews moved to the Benchmark area work on active structure protection, including foaming and watering the cabins and structures in that area. Tuesday, crews were assessing structure protection along Beaver Willow Road as well. Currently, 332 people are assigned to the fire and it has cost 5.5 million to fight. It is the second priority in the nation behind the Skyland Fire near Glacier National Park. 

The Skyland Fire, burning near Marias Pass east of Essex showed minimal growth Tuesday. It was mapped at 16,050 acres Tuesday, but the some 8,000-acre growth was Monday’s movement. The fire is 5 percent contained.

The fire stalled out temporarily in lighter fuel as it moved toward the Blackfeet Reservation. The blaze is at least still 6 miles from Highway 2 at the east end of the fire and the roadway was scheduled to open for two way unescorted traffic Tuesday night.

There are at least 17 large fires (more than 90 acres) burning in Montana and numerous small fires popping up across the state. Here is a region-by-region breakdown of the fire activity in Montana.

Also, check in often to InciWeb, where the large fires are being updated from fire camp regularly. The large fires with InciWeb pages are linked in the roundup below. Click on the name of the fire for that fire’s page.

For a look at fire weather forecasts, click here and for a national breakdown of wildland fires, click here.

Stage II fire restrictions, meaning no campfires, smoking, daytime industrial operations and motor vehicle use off designated roads and trails, are in effect as of Monday across western and west-central Montana. Click here for more details.

Western Montana:

Three new lightning starts were reported Tuesday on the Bitterroot National Forest and by afternoon, one of them, the Rombo Fire burning northeast of the Painted Rocks Rservoir, was already up to 200-300 acres. The fire grew quickly in difficult terrain so most of the firefighting was being done from the air.

The other two starts—one near Nez Perce Peak and the other near Angle Falls, are both 1/10 of an acre.

The Bitterroot’s biggest fires are both wildland fire use fires—the Harrington Mountain Fire at 110 acres and the Harrington Ridge Fire at 200-plus southwest of Darby. 

Including the Harrington Fires, there remain 11 fires in the Frank Church – River of No Return, Anaconda-Pintlar and Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Areas which are being managed as WFU fires and carefully monitored by air patrol. 

For more on the Bitterroot blazes go to http://63.196.254.151/WildWeb/WCMT-BRC.htm and click “recent incidents.”

Noteworthy Fires in Western Montana:

• Mile Marker 124 Fire, north of Interstate 90 near Rock Creek exit, managed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 1,511 acres. Residents west of the blaze and north of the interstate have been asked to voluntarily evacuate and evacuations have been ordered for the West Fork Cramer Creek drainage.

• The Sawmill Complex is a complex of three fires, the largest being the Sawmill Fire, in the Lolo National Forest in Welcome Creek Wilderness along Rock Creek, 22 miles southwest of Missoula. Up to 100 homes in the Rock Creek Area could become threatened if the fire picks up. The complex was mapped at 2,520 acres Tuesday.

• Wyman II Fire, 20 miles west of Phillipsburg, Lolo National Forest, 1,000 acres. Evacuations in place along Rock Creek Road between the Sandstone/Wyman trailhead and Stony Creek.

• The Conger Creek Fire, Lolo National Forest, 20 miles north of Ovando along Highway 200. 3,750 acres, being managed and monitored, not actively suppressed.

• The St. Regis Complex, in Western Montana’s Lolo National Forest. A total of 94 acres. Nearly contained at last report—no new reports coming out.

Northwestern Montana:

• The Garceau Fire, 10 miles from Polson, had burned a total of 3,045 acres by Tuesday morning, 50 percent contained.

• The Skyland Fire in the Flathead National Forest totals 8,550 acres. U.S. Highway 2 is now open.

Southwestern Montana:

Two lightning-caused fires popped up in Southwestern Montana Tuesday. One fire, four miles northeast of Philipsburg was quickly dealt with by half a dozen firefighters and a helicopter making water drops from a large bucket.  It burned just one acre and the crew was expecting finish work on it by Tuesday evening. The second fire broke out 12 miles southeast of Wisdom near Rabbia and was at least “a couple of acres” according to reports. Smokejumpers working overnight on the fire told the Forest Service in Wisdom that they felt confident they could control the blaze with the nighttime effort.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest has a temporary closure in effect, including the area north of Lacy and McVey creeks and west of the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway all the way to the forest boundary east and south of Highway 43.

Noteworthy Fires in Southwestern Montana:

• The Pattengail Creek Fire, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest 10 miles northeast of Wisdom. 4,295 acres. The fire showed new spot fires Sunday.  Helicopters maneuvered around smoke in the afternoon as they made strategic bucket drops.  Trees were torching in the northwest and east sides of the fire, as humidity declined to 17 percent, according to reports. Public meeting: Wednesday, August 1st at 7:30 p.m. in the Wise River Community Hall

• The Owl Fire, burning along the Wyoming-Montana border in Yellowstone National Park, was 2,810 acres, 25 percent contained. All visitor services, park entrances and roads are open. Some trails and backcountry campsites are temporarily closed.

Central Montana:

The Meriwether Fire in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, 37 miles north of Helena, grew to 20,050 acres by Tuesday evening. Crews are calling it 10 percent contained.

An emergency closure is in place that encompasses the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area as well as Coulter Campground along the Missouri River. A River Closure is in place until further notice for Upper Holter Reservoir from American Bar Gulch, extending North to Beartooth Landing (across from Ming Bar-7 river miles) with the exception of commerical boat tours operating on a limited route.

Noteworthy Fires in Central Montana:

• Ahorn Fire, Lewis and Clark National Forest, 35 miles West of Augusta, near Benchmark. Grew from 30,000 to an estimated 45,050 Monday. Five percent contained.

• Fool Creek Wildland Fire Use Fire, Lewis and Clark National Forest, in Bob Marshall Wilderness. 10,922 acres. This fire is being managed by a Wildland Fire Use team, meaning it is being managed for resource benefit, not actively suppressed. (Click here for more information on Wildand Fire Use teams.)

• Middle Fork Fire, Lewis and Clark National Forest, Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area, 20 miles southwest of Utica. 1,146 acres. This fire is also being managed as a Wildand Fire Use fire and is burning in a remote area. It was started on June 21 by a lightning strike.

For the most recent updates on Montana fires, check back in at www.newwest.net/fire.

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