nation's no. 1 priority wildfire

Jocko Lakes Fire: 18,000 Acres Burned, One Home Destroyed

By Matthew Frank and Anne Medley, 8-06-07

	Above: Concerned residents gather for fire updates outside the Seeley Lake post office on Sunday afternoon. The Jocko Lakes fire grew to 18,000 acres after high winds fueled its progression on Saturday. Middle: Motor boats sit unused on Sunday afternoon as a cloud of smoke from the nearby Jocko Lakes fire descends over Seeley Lake. Photos by Anne Medley. Bottom: The plume of smoke towering over the Jocko Lake Fire west of Seeley Lake, as seen from the northeastern shore of Lake Alva Saturday afternoon. Photo by Ednor Therriault.

The nation’s top-priority wildfire, the Jocko Lakes Fire burning west of Seeley Lake, has grown to an estimated 18,000 acres and fire officials confirmed Sunday that at least one home burned in the weekend’s blow up.

In addition to the one destroyed home, seven outbuildings and “other” structures were destroyed, and another primary home and a commercial property were damaged, fire information officer Pat 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 at least 200 homes around Placid Lake and Seeley Lake, closing Highway 83 and prompting Gov. Schweitzer to issue an emergency declaration.

The blaze displayed “tremendous fire activity,” Cross said Saturday, “activity firefighters haven’t seen before in this part of the world.”

Mandatory evacuation orders are in effect south of the east-west line at mile marker 22 on Highway 83, and everything west of the west shore of Seeley Lake. Highway 83 is closed from Clearwater Junction to Condon. Closures on the west side of the fire include Gray Wolf Trail Road, South Fork Road and Jocko Lakes Road.

The town of Seeley Lake has not been ordered to evacuate, but the Double Arrow Resort and Dogtown on the southern edge of town have been. Authorities are asking evacuees to check in at the Bonner Elementary School or the Condon Work Center. An emergency hotline has been set up at 406-258-4271.

Nearly 600 people gathered Sunday evening in the gymnasium of Seeley Lake elementary school for a briefing on the status of the fire. Fire officials were surprised at the turnout, considering about 30 percent of the surrounding community had either voluntarily evacuated or been ordered to do so.

Seeley Lake Fire Chief Frank Maradeo said he suspected everyone who was still in the community was at the meeting.

Residents expressed approval over the distribution of fire information since the start of the blaze on Friday, despite some seemingly scrambled information Saturday night about what areas had been evacuated. There was some misinformation floating around that the entire town of Seeley Lake had been evacuated, but only the outskirts and nearby Placid Lake were under the order Sunday night. 

It’s common, in the face of a wildfire—or any disaster—to have an active rumor mill. So, Maradeo cautioned the crowd not to believe everything they hear.

“I had someone call the station yesterday or today,” he told the crowd. “They live in Missoula and have a cabin or home up here and they got a call from somebody in Portland, Oregon saying the whole town had burned over and everybody was evacuated. So they called the station ...  ‘I’m surprsied you guys are still there. Why’s that?’”

“We have to be really careful,” he said.

He said if anyone has questions they can always call the fire station. (The number is 406-677-2400)

Debbie Ogden, who evacuated her home in Dogtown, said overall she’s been happy with how the agencies have dealt with getting notices to the community.

“It’s a bit disorienting, to be in a situation where there is the danger of losing your home and not having a lot certainty on where you should be going and what you should be doing exactly,” Ogden said. “The agencies here that have been working with the public have been extremely helpful in that area.”

She added, “but I understand that these things take time to coordinate and to get people here and when you see something as imminent as a wildland fire, of course, you would like to see people on scene and doing something visible to you immediatley, but that is not always the case. And, the response here has been very timely.”

Katie Dettmann said she had plenty of time to round up livestock and evacuate from her place north of Seeley. Still, it has been a whirlwind of a weekend.

When asked what day she evacuated, she responded: “What day is it? I haven’t slept yet.”

Sunday was a relatively quiet day, even with the fire burning less than a mile from the south end of the town of Seeley Lake, Cross said. An inversion over the fire area and light easterly winds blowing the fire back on itself led to very little growth, and crews were able to “get line punched in” along the fire’s southern and eastern flanks.

And Monday’s weather should be as good as Sunday’s if not better, Cross said. Winds should be even lighter, temperatures should drop, and the relative humidity is expected to climb a bit. “We should be able to get a lot of line put in,” Cross said.

A total of 71 people were working the fire Sunday night, with four Type 1 Hotshot crews expected to arrive Monday.

On Tuesday a weather disturbance marked by high winds could stir things back up—for the Jocko Lakes Fire and all wildfires burning in Western Montana.

From the scene of the fire Saturday afternoon after the blaze had begun its stunning run Gov. Brian Schweitzer told Montana Public Radio, “This fire is in the hands of God.” He also said, “Get your pets, get your valuables, get in your pickup and get out. It may pass you by, it may go around you, we may be able to get a load of retardant on your house. Folks nothing is worth loss of life. We pulled the firefighters off in front of the fire. It’s too hot, it’s too fast and we won’t risk life.” Later, after taking an aerial tour of the blaze, Schweitzer issued an emergency declaration for 11 Montana counties.

As the AP reports, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved the state’s request for funds Saturday night, meaning FEMA will pay 75 percent of eligible state costs of fighting the blaze.

The Jocko Lakes Fire was reported at about 3:00 Friday afternoon. 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. According to reports from fire information officer Jamie Kirby, the fire spread from 10 acres to 300 in a matter of a half an hour.

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, click here.

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

For the most recent update on the Jocko Fire and other Montana blazes, check back in at www.newwest.net/fire.

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