Rain Slows Activity, But Montana’s Fire Season Not Quite Over

By Anne Medley, 9-19-07

Rainfall and cooler temperatures across Montana have slowed fire activity over the past few days, but fire officials are stopping short of calling the weather a season-ending event. 

“That’s a tough one,” Incident Commander Glen McNitt of the Jocko Lakes fire said. “Certainly it’s a good sign, but in all likelihood, there’re still going to be some smokes out there.”

McNitt noted that Missoula has received more precipitation than the Seeley Lake area, which reported a mere .02 inches of rain yesterday. Although weather forecasts predict an additional tenth to quarter-inch of rain today, “We’d be lucky to get a couple more hundredths,” McNitt said.

Despite spotty rainfall, the Jocko Lakes fire is holding steady at 95 percent containment with unchecked activity primarily in the fire’s interior. A crew of 186 continues to work the fire, and a total breakdown of Harper’s Lake Fire Camp is scheduled for this Friday. 

McNitt, who resumed his position as Incident Commander for the Jocko Lakes fire on Sunday night, indicated that decreased fire activity would allow all fire closures in the Jocko Lakes area to be lifted at noon on Friday. 

To the northeast, fire officials working the Ahorn and Fool Creek fires similarly avoided the phrase “season-ending” in their discussions of recent weather. 

“The fire activity is way down at this point,” Public Information Officer Ted Pettis said. However, precipitation in the region has been scattered, ranging from reports of 5-8 inches of snow from fire lookouts stationed above 6,000 feet to a tenth of an inch of rain recorded in lower elevations. 

Although cooler temperatures and higher humidity help firefighters, logistical difficulties come with colder weather. To avoid freezing, fire hoses and pumps must be drained nightly, and crews patrolling the fires must be pulled out at the end of each day’s shift, Pettis said. 

According to a chart Pettis read recently on forest fires, a season ending event has a 50 percent chance of happening in Montana by September 15 and a 90 percent chance of happening by the end of September. 

Asked when he predicts a season-ending event for the Ahorn and Fool Creek fires, Pettis said, “I think we’re talking days.”