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montana wildfire roundup

Updated 10:00 p.m. Monday was another hot and dry day on Montana's 8,792-acre Ahorn Fire, the fire camp reported Monday evening. The fire had an inversion over it until about 2:00 in the afternoon and when it lifted, the eastern section of the fire responded with erratic fire behavior including group torching and crowning. Earlier in the day the fire was active in its northwest corner, continuing to back into Ahorn Creek. The fire spread but the additional acreage has yet to be mapped. The fire, Montana's largest, remains zero percent contained.

The Ahorn Fire, burning the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Lewis and Clark National Forest, grew by nearly 1,500 acres Sunday. It was whipped up by westerly winds gusting to 25 mph and flame lengths stretched 200 feet in the air. Click here to view a map of the fire's recent progression.

Sunday afternoon officials issued an evacuation order for all residents of Benchmark Trailhead to the Woodlake Campground. Summer lease cabins, bridges and ranches are nearby. [more]

almost 30 years on the job

After almost 30 years as a Missoula County Commissioner, Republican Barbara Evans is retiring.

“She’s virtually irreplaceable,” said County Commissioner Bill Carey. “We’ve become very good friends.”

In 1978 she was the first woman elected to the County Commission, and in 1985, Evans helped put Missoula on the map as the first county in the nation to be represented by three women.

“Here’s a lady that’s spent almost 30 years of her life dedicated to public service,” said Will Deschamps Republican Central Committee Chair.

As mandated by state law, the Republican Committee plans to submit a list of three possible replacements to the remaining commissioners. The commissioners then select an individual to replace Evans, temporarily, until elections are held in November of 2008. [more]

montana fire roundup

Updated 9:00 p.m. Favorable winds and a thick smoke inversion kept Montana's biggest fire, the Ahorn Fire, 35 miles West of Augusta, relatively quiet Tuesday while initial attack crews on the western side of the state battled dozens of small new starts that popped up after several days of thunderstorms.

The Ahorn Fire grew just 170 acres Monday with most of the active burning confined to the northeast side of the fire, away from the Benchmark road. In some places, the winds blew the fire upslope and back onto itself.

The fire weather watch for Tuesday night and Wednesday is mildly promising -- at least some moisture is possible after several days of heat in the 100s. Still, there are warnings of potential thunderstorm activity (read: nasty winds) coupled with high temperatures and dry conditions in the woods. Crews will continue to fight the existing starts, and lookouts and air partol will monitor the Forest for any holdovers and additional new starts from the past days' storms. [more]

missoula's open space bond at work

“It’s a sad thing, see, you can’t outlive a tree,” says Bill Potter, 90, as he putters across his forest in the same Jeep he’s been driving for over 50 years. While that may be true, Potter's legacy could outlive the ancient pines blocking out the sky on his 4,000-acre Greenough property.

In 1998, Potter donated a conservation easement on his E Bar L Ranch that will protect it for generations to come. And now, aided by $200,000 of Missoula’s Open Space Bond money, the Potter family hopes to buy an additional 3,520 acres of Plum Creek land, with a conservation easement attached.

If all goes as planned, the 3,520 acres once logged by Plum Creek, now dubbed the Sunset Hill Conservation Easement, will be tacked on to Potter’s current 4,000 acres, restored and protected from development. [more]

Hazy Days of Summer

Skies above Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley are starting to take on that familiar summer-time haze that indicates fire season is in full swing.

A handful of large fires in Idaho, including several in the Payette National Forest, are putting out a great deal of smoke, which is then carried by the air stream into the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys, says Bitterroot National Forest spokeswoman Nan Christianson.

Several large fires burning in Nevada and Utah could also be sending some smoke our way, she said.

But while blazes scorching the West send smoke our way, as of Monday, air quality shouldn't be a problem for people going about their daily routine, said Erik Englebert, Air Quality Specialist for the city of Missoula. [more]

accommodating growth

After more then 30 years, Missoula’s unwieldy and unpredictable zoning regulations may get an overhaul.

The last time Missoula’s zoning laws were reworked was in 1972. And many of the existing regulations are from the 1930s when Missoula first started mapping out its future.

“There’s been a need for it for a very long time,” Mark Landkammer of the Office of Planning and Grants said. “We are not the sleepy little one-horse town we were in the 70s.”

Missoula County has added more than 30,000 people to its population over the last 30 years. The rezoning plan is an effort to satisfy the demands of rapid growth while preserving the city's character, a familiar challenge for many towns in the Rocky Mountain West.

Mayor Engen is counting on citizens to come forward with solutions to Missoula’s current zoning challenges. “The regulators don’t like it and the regulated don’t like it,” he said.

But it won't be a quick and easy process. [more]

food, family and culture

It’s closing time at the Missoula farmers' market and Hmong children in oversized t-shirts load icicle radishes, rhubarb and beets into black milk crates for the Missoula Food Bank.

A large portion of the weekly Food Bank donations comes from these kids, first generation Montanans working for their parents to earn a little spending cash.

Almost half of the vendors at the Missoula market are Hmong refugees from Laos. In total, there are more than 200 Hmong living in Missoula County, according to U.S. Census figures from 2000. Many emigrated here in the wake of the Vietnam War, after their ally, the United States, pulled out of Southeast Asia and the Communists took over.

Chou Moua, 61, and his family were part of that wave. [more]

massive blaze in utah

The Milford Flat Fire, the largest fire in Utah's recorded history, has burned over 310,000 acres. The fire is about 10 percent contained as firefighters file into the southcentral part of the state, 120 miles south of Salt Lake City to battle the blaze.

Sparked Friday, the fire has burned one home, several outbuildings, livestock and miles of pasture. The fire is blamed for the death of a couple hit by a car while traveling by motorcycle in heavy smoke on Saturday. Currently no evacuations are in effect for the Milford Flat Fire.

Also in Utah, fire crews are getting a handle on the Neola Fire, now about 65 percent contained after burning over 40,000 acres in the northeastern part of the state. The fire, started on June 29, has killed three people and now has over 700 firefighters on the scene.

More updates after the jump. [more]

wildfires

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.”

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. [more]

red flag warning in effect

A 2,000-acre lightening fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, near Choteau, is prompting the Forest Service to reroute hikers and campers on the well-traveled Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.

A red flag warning has been issued for the area surrounding the fire, named the Fool Creek fire, in the northern part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Near the North Fork Sun River Drainage, it's expected to grow with high temperatures and gusty winds in the forecast.

"We are expecting it to probably burn quite a bit today," Wendy Maples, Forest Service information officer, said Friday. [more]

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