Thunderstorms Spark Montana Fires, Gov. Declares Emergency

By Courtney Lowery, 7-16-07

	Caption: Photo of the Ahorn Fire, burning 35 miles west of Augusta, courtesy of the Forest Service.

Updated 11:20 p.m. Monday: Another thunderstorm blew through Western Montana Monday, sparking at least 11 new fires on the Bitterroot National Forest while the Ahorn Fire on the other side of the mountains west of Augusta grew to 7,000 acres in heavy timber.

Extreme fire conditions and the rash of new starts prompted Gov. Brian Schweitzer Monday to declare an emergency in Montana. The declaration “warrants an aggressive initial attack on all wildland fire starts in Montana,” Schweitzer wrote in the executive order, which will mobilize state resources and Montana’s National Guard.

The Ahorn Fire, burning 35 air miles West of Augusta on the Lewis and Clark National Forest raced through dense, dry forest again Monday, prompting officials to put everyone on the Benchmark road on pre evacuation notice.

“The fire is doing things some of these long-term firefighters haven’t seen,” said Fire Information Officer Jack de Golia.

Crews were headed into the Benchmark area Tuesday to assess structure protection on the some 65 summer homes in the area (including my family’s cabin.)

The fire was 60 percent contained earlier in the weekend and crews were hopeful they’d have it fully contained (line all the way around it) soon. But, Sunday afternoon’s fire behavior changed those plans.

Monday’s movement came with little wind, however. “It’s not wind-driven,” de Golia said. “It’s fuel-driven.”

Dave Larsen’s Incident Command team is making plans to work with local officials for longer-term contingency plans, although the fire is still at least 15-20 air miles from private land.

“There’s no need to panic, but we need to thoughtfully plan ahead for the fire going north or east,” Larsen said. “We have the time to do that.”

To the fire’s east is private land and to its south—about four miles—is the end of Benchmark road, which is dotted with Forest Service lease cabins and inholdings.

A helicopter went down Monday morning near the fire’s helispot, about three miles south of the Indian Point cabin. The pilot sustained only minor injuries. The Forest Service is beginning an investigation Tuesday into the crash, de Golia said.

Meanwhile, on the west side of the Divide, initial attack crews were busy again Monday. The Bitterroot National Forest reported 12 new fires Monday, added to 17 starts reported over the weekend. Eleven of the new starts came from Monday night’s thunderstorm while one was a holdover from Sunday’s lightning. None of the new fires have grown to any significant size and crews had most of the weekend starts already contained.

Here’s a quick rundown of the noteworthy fires:

• The Harlan Gulch Fire, burning north east of Darby grew quickly Sunday and grew to an estimated 35 acres, where it remained Monday night. Helicopters dropped water and retardant Sunday while crews worked the ground.
• The Michael Fire, also sparked on Friday, is contained at 60 acres.
• There are five small fires and one 100-acre fire burning in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and they are being managed as Wildland Fire Use fires, meaning they are being managed, not actively suppressed.

(A Wildland Fire Use team is also managing the now 5,430-acre Fool Creek Fire burning on the eastern edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness more than 35 miles West of Choteau. Click here for more information on Wildand Fire Use teams.)

On the Lolo National Forest, hand crews (meaning firefighters on the ground) are tackling several new fires near Rock Creek east of Missoula with the help of helicopters. Air support dropped four retardant drops near Ambrose Saddle, where the fire is holding at two acres.

West of St. Regis, seven fires are burning to make up the 94-acre St. Regis Complex. By Sunday, crews had six of the seven fires lined and Monday, they were mopping up those fires and building more line on the Fisher Fire, which makes up 60 of the acres in the complex. The complex combined is 40 percent contained.

There was some smoke in the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys Sunday, but Bitterroot National Forest spokeswoman Nan Christianson said in a report Sunday that the smoke may be drifting in from several large fires in Idaho or from Nevada or Utah fires.

In southwest Montana, at least seven fires are burning, the largest being the three-day-old Patengail Creek Fire, which, under high winds, doubled on Sunday to an estimated 1,100 acres 10 miles north northeast of Wisdom. Helicopters and air tankers are dropping water and retardant on the fire and two Hot Shot crews are starting to anchor a line from the Upper Stone Lake.

A public meeting on the fire will be held at the Wise River Community Center, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 18th.

Other fires in southwestern Montana include:

• The Perry Canyon Fire, south of Whitehall, has burned 20 acres. Fire officials say they can keep the fire contained and crews have the help of one helicopter and fire engines.
• The Painter Creek Fire is two acres about 10 miles northwest of Grant. Fire engines and Missoula smokejumpers are fighting the blaze.
• The Moose Horn Fire, 15 miles west of Wisdom is one-half acre and being fought by one Hot Shot crew.
• The Twin Adams Fire is one-half acre 15 miles northwest of Dillon in the Birch
  Creek area.  Fire engines and one helicopter are working the fire.
• The Baldy Fire is one-tenth of an acre, 5 miles south of Red Rocks Refuge, close to the Idaho border.

More hot and dry weather is on it’s way this week for the state, which is already off to an early fire season.

“It’s going to be a long summer,” de Golia said.

Fire offiicals often talk about their hopes for a “season-ending” event—meaning enough moisture and cool enough weather to naturally calm the fires—and that usually comes around Labor Day, de Golia said.

“Labor day is quite a ways off,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough fire season in this part of the world.”

If you’re interested in tracking this season’s wildfires, InciWeb (www.inciweb.org) is updated regularly with new information from the fire camps of large fires in the nation.

Locally, the Bitterroot Dispatch Center has a handy Web site with recent incidents. (http://63.196.254.151/WildWeb/WCMT-BRC.htm)