The Meriwether Fire Jumps Another 10,000 Acres

By Courtney Lowery, 8-01-07

	Caption: The Sawmill Gulch Fire, part of the Sawmill Complex east of Missoula. Photo by Anne Medley. Click here for Anne's photo essay from the Sawmill Gulch Fire and the nearby Mile Marker 124 Fire.

UPDATED 9:30 P.M.:  Montana currently has the most wildfire activity in the country with more than 100,000 acres ablaze, and the greatest concern—and the nation’s top priority—is the Meriwether Fire north of Helena.

The Meriwether Fire burning near Wolf Creek has consumed another 10,000-plus acres for a total of 31,238. Fire officials who have been monitoring the fire say, “We are dealing with fire behavior that is off the charts! We will have to re-write the text books of how fire spreads,” according to Wednesday afternoon’s report from camp.

The report also states: “For the last few days fire fighters have been dealing with fire behavior which is unpredictable within the realm of prior computer modeling.”

The huge smoke plumes visible from both Helena and Great Falls have been due to interior torching and a push to the east as the fire mainly burned within the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The southeast side of the fire is threatening to move out of the wilderness toward Beaver Creek Road.

At least 60 more houses were evacuated Tuesday, 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. As of Wednesday morning, 122 people were working the Meriwether fire.

Ahorn Fire, West of Augusta

The 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 cooled down Wednesday after two very active days. The fire is still estimated at 39,220 acres and crews have line around 2 percent of the fire. Firefighters did get into the south side today—the side that’s about 3/4 of a mile from the Benchmark road—and start extending line from the pack bridge on the South Fork of the Sun.

“That’s a really good sign,” said fire information officer Jan Amen. Crews haven’t been able to get on the fire the last two days because conditions were so severe.

Crews are expecting the fire to continue growing north toward Sheep mountain and keep creeping east and south toward the Renshaw Mountain area. The fire has been largely fuel-driven and has exhibited intense, erratic behavior (some days growing up to 14,000 acres) since its start July 11.

Crews were also working on structure protection on the northwest side of Gibson Reservoir while others were scouting south of the reservoir, looking for places to anchor line and get ahead of the fire’s east and south flanks.

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. There, structure protection crews continue to run hose lines and sprinkler systems into the cabins to protect them should the fire move south. 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.

Mile Marker 124 Fire, East of Missoula

East of Missoula near Clinton and just west of the Rock Creek exit on 1-90, the Mile Marker 124 Fire threw up large plumes of smoke and nearly doubled in size again Wednesday to 5,720 acres. Crews had the fire 15 percent contained. Evacuation in the West Fork Cramer Creek drainage remained in effect and Wednesday afternoon, the Missoula County Sheriff’s department was talking to residents in Wallace Creek about what to do in case the fire started moving West.

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 Tuesday. “It’s kind of right there.”

On Wednesday officials announced that investigators are looking for more information pertaining to the cause of the Mile Marker 124 Fire. It was ignited by multiple starts along the westbound lane of I-90, 3 miles east of Clinton. Investigators have ruled out lightning and believe the cause may have been mechanical or vehicular malfunction. Click here for the announcement, and call (406) 542-4241 if you have any information.

Sawmill Complex, East of Missoula

Meanwhile, just south of the Mile Marker 124 blaze, the Sawmill Complex Fire about doubled in size Wednesday reaching 4,060 acres. (The Complex consists of the previously reported Wyman II Fire, the Fisher Point Fire, and the Sawmill Fire.) The fires were active Wednesday on all portions of their perimeters, the camp reported, with individual and group tree torching, uphill runs from rolling debris, and spotting up to two miles depending on the weather.

The Sawmill Complex threatens some 190 residences, numerous outbuildings and seven commercial structures, mostly along Rock Creek Road.

On Monday, 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.

Skyland Fire, Glacier National Park

The Skyland Fire, burning near Marias Pass east of Essex showed relatively minimal growth again Wednesday, upping a few thousand acres to 19,448. The fire remains 5 percent contained.

“Today was a good day for firefighters,” Wednesday evening’s report stated. Wednesday’s winds were in their favor, checking the growth of the fire on its east end.

Traffic on Hwy 2 may be stopped briefly Thursday while the helicopter is working over the Highway, but otherwise it will be two-way traffic with speed restrictions close to the fire.

Region-by-Region breakdown:

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 Reservoir, was estimated at 430 acres by Wednesday afternoon.

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, 2,975 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 Wyman II Fire, in the Lolo National Forest in Welcome Creek Wilderness along Rock Creek, 22 miles southwest of Missoula. The complex was mapped at 4,060 acres Wednesday. 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. 4,000 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 Wednesday evening, 90 percent contained.

• The Skyland Fire in the Flathead National Forest totals 19,448 acres. U.S. Highway 2 is now open.

• The Chippy Creek Fire The Chippy Creek Fire (formerly named “Semem Creek") was reported at 2:00pm on Tuesday, July 31st. The fire started on a section of state land and quickly burned into the Chippy Creek drainage, and continues to burn west toward the Flathead Reservation. Size is estimated at 3,000 acres, and an Incident Management Team has been ordered. 42 miles southwest of Kalispell.

• The Brush Creek Fire, about 29 air miles west of Whitefish, MT, over 4,625 acres. Fire managers anticipated more growth from the fire today, but the smoke inversion limited growth to about 300 acres. The fire continues to move in a N-NE direction. A small portion of the fire has crossed onto the Kootenai National Forest and Plum Creek lands. Fire managers, in coordination with Flathead County Office of Emergency Services, completed an evacuation plan for the Star Meadows area, east of the fire.

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, 15 percent contained. The fire has been active on the NW and NE perimeters with short range spotting, single and group tree torching.

• The Owl Fire, burning along the Wyoming-Montana border in Yellowstone National Park, was 2,810 acres, 60 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 31,238 acres by Wednesday afternoon.

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 commercial 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. 39,220 acres.

• Fool Creek Wildland Fire Use Fire, Lewis and Clark National Forest, in Bob Marshall Wilderness. 21,888 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.