Fire Near Big Timber up to 40,000 Acres, I-90 Closed

By Courtney Lowery, 8-30-06

Editor's Note: For more recent updates from this fire and others in Montana, check www.newwest.net/fire for more.

New reports show the Derby Mountain Fire, burning 15 miles south of Big Timber in soutcentral Montana doubled in an afternoon Tuesday. New estimates Wednesday have the fire at 40,000 acres -- up from 18,000. Bellowed by high winds, fire blew up yesterday, prompting evacuations in Sweet Grass and Stillwater Counties. Update: The Billings Gazette is reporting Wednesday afternoon that even more evacautions have been ordered, incluing the town of Nye, and I-90 has been closed between Livingston and Columbus.

The National Weather Service's red-flag warning is holding across Montana Wednesday as colder air moves into the state, bringing with it predicted wind gusts of up to 35 mph.

Helicopters are dropping water and retardant to help slow the spread of the fire. A Type II management team is on the fire with eight dozers, two Hot Shot crews, seven 20-person hand crews, 29 engines and three helicopters. A Type I team has been ordered for the fire. It is still 40 percent contained.

The evacuations are in place on Meyers Road, Curry Flat Lane, Limestone Road, Lodge Pole in Stillwater County and on Main Bridger Creek Road to the Freeway from the intersection with West Bridger Creek, Work Creek, Lower Deer Creek and West Bridger Creek in Sweet Grass County.

Other fires in the state also saw some increased activity Tuesday, but most held and crews even contained a few. (But the winds said "not so fast" -- see update below)

South of Dillon the Clark's Canyon Fire, burning east of Clark Canyon Reservoir was declared 100 percent contained Tuesday at 15,300 acres. But, by mid afternoon Wednesday, the fire was fanned, again, by high winds and jumped lines and grew 100 acres. It is burning in the direction of Interstate 15 southwest of Henneberry Ridge toward the area already burned. It was putting up a good column of smoke apparently visible from Dillon. (Contrary to earlier reports, it is not buring in the Gallagher Canyon) The report from the Dillon Interagency Dispatch Center says, "While it doesn’t pose an immediate threat to structures, there are buildings ahead of the fire’s current course." Four engines, a helicopter and two skidder/engines were at the fire doing mop up so were on hand to attack the new flare up. The Dillon Volunteer Fire engines were also responding and a Montana National Guard Blackhawk helicopter just arrived this afternoon to help.

The Gash Creek Fire six miles southeast of Victor is holding at 8,000 acres and crews have it up to 65 percent contained. At this point, with sections of the blaze burning into the wilderness and not being contained, this one might stay at 60-70 percent containment until the season ends. Most of the activity is in the top of the Big Creek drainage on the south side of the creek and the north flank of the fire. There, it is slowly backing down the drainage and fire bosses aren't worried until it reaches the bottom, which isn't likely, said Bitterroot National Forest spokesman Brian Shay. Steep terrain in that section is hindering containment because "it's not a good place for firefighters," Shay said. The uncontained sections, burning up to the wilderness "essentially burned itself out" in rocky outcrops and natural barriers, Shay said.

Several trail closures around the Gash Creek fire have been opened, including the Gash Creek trail to the wilderness boundary and the popular Bear Creek Overlook trail. Sweathouse Creek, Big Creek and Glen Lake trails are all still closed.

A new fire that flared up east of Browning Tuesday was contained by the end of the day. The Mission Lake fire charred 958 acres.

Meanwhile, the Ulm Peak Fire near the Idaho/Montana border has grown a bit to 1,376 acres and is four percent contained. There are 318 people are working the fire. There, the Gem Point Forest Service Lookout and a repeater tower are threatened.

The Sun Dog Fire 20 miles north of Columbia Falls on the Flathead National Forest has held the past several days at 615 acres and crews now have it 25 percent contained. It is burning on all forest land, and is being fought today by 308 people. The nearest private land or buildings are eight miles from the fire perimeter.

There are also a whole slew of fires being managed in the Northern Rockies wilderness areas as Wildland Fire Use fires -- meaning they are usually naturally-caused fires that are just monitored and managed for the benefit of an ecosystem that needs fire to thrive. (They also cut down on resource costs.) Click here to see a spreadsheet of the upwards of 87 Wildland Fire Use fires in the Northern Rockies. Click here for details on the fires burning specifically in the Bitterroot National Forest's portions of the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church Wilderness areas.

Here's a roundup of other big fires in the region:

WESTERN MONTANA FIRES:

Holland Peak (Five miles east of Condon, Mont. on Flathead National Forest lands.)
• 530 acres
• 0% contained
• 24 personnel
• Steep, rugged terrain is making containment efforts difficult. It has mostly been fought with air support, but the fire grew to within 1/4-1/2 mile from trigger points that will prompt line building around the fire.

EASTERN MONTANA:

NEW: Liscom Creek Fire (35 miles southwest of Miles City)
• 4,400 acres
• 0% contained
• 83 personnell

SOUTHERN MONTANA AND YELLOWSTONE FIRES:

Stinky Fire (11 miles southeast of the Lamar Ranger Station in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park)
• 1,010 acres
• 0% contained
• 11 personnel (This fire is on monitor status and is not being actively contained.)
• Update: Several backcountry trails were closed Wednesday near the fire in case winds whip the blaze in their direction. The Miller Creek, Canoe Lake, Bootjack Gap, and Hoodoo Basin trails, as
well as backcountry campsites along the Miller Creek trail have been closed. Yellowstone's Backcountry Office number is (307) 344-2160.

Magpie Fire (7 miles east of Madison Junction, also in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park)
• 2,102 acres
• No containment percentage (This fire is also on monitor status and is not being actively contained.)
• 3 personnel

NORTHERN IDAHO FIRES:

Heaven's Gate Complex (10 miles west of Riggins, Idaho on the Nez Pearce National Forest)
• 10,100 acres
• 35% contained
• 286 personnel
• Four fires in this complex: Black Butte 7240 acres, Green Acres 2770 acres, Horse heaven 80 acres, and McCrea Creek 10 acres.

Hughes 32 Complex (10 miles north of Nordman, Idaho, near the Canadian border)
• 1,400 acres
• 5% contained
• 89 personnel

In Missoula, much of the city’s open space and conservation lands remains closed to afternoon and evening use due to extreme fire danger. Mount Jumbo and the North Hills, along with City and Forest Service lands on Mount Sentinel, including the Crazy Canyon recreation area and the “M” Trail, are off limits between 1 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Stage II fire restrictions remain in effect for much of Western Montana. Stage II restrictions mean absolutely no campfires, no smoking except inside a building or vehicle and no off-road or off-trail motorized use. They also mean no welding, using a torch or explosives or running a chainsaw or other equipment powered by an internal combustion engine for felling, bucking, skidding, road building or woodcutting between the hours of 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.

This roundup is updated every morning and every evening with new acreages on all the fires we can track down and new narratives on the most critical fires burning in the state. (On slow days, when there's no new acreages to report, we update once a day and as new information comes in.) You can also check www.inciweb.org throughout the day for updates and each morning, the Northern Rockies Coordination Center's large incident situation report gives a good rundown of what happened the night before. And, by all means, if you have information of a fire burning near you, let us hear about it. Email info@newwest.net. [End of article]