Fires Flare Up Around Missoula

By Courtney Lowery, 8-04-05

On cue, fires around Missoula flared up in the afternoon heat today. The "talker" is the Rockin' fire near Lake Como in the Bitterroot National Forest which jumped from five acres to about 60 this afternoon.

Darby District Ranger Chuck Oliver said the Rockin' Fire is one of six blazes in the Rock Creek Drainage. That group of blazes is what is sending up that plume of smoke rising southwest of Missoula.

Oliver said because of the heat and the rugged terrain "it went pretty quick" and officials called in helicopter crews to help fight the fire. As of 7:00, Oliver said there were about 15 crew memebers fighting the fire.

A few fires have also sprouted up along I-90 West of Missoula and crews continue to fight the Frog Pond fire near Phillipsburg.

And just a reminder: Stage II fire restrictions go into effect tonight at Midnight for Southwestern Montana.

That means no:

Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire.

Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.

Operating motorized vehicles off designated roads and trails.
And between 1 p.m. and 1 a.m. there's no:

Operating any internal combustion engine

Welding, or operating acetylene or other torch with open flame.

Using an explosive.

The restrictions apply to all state lands and private forested lands in Mineral County, Missoula County south of Summit Lake, Powell County, Ravalli County, Granite County, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, and Butte-Silver Bow County; those parts of Lake County and Flathead County lying within the Flathead Indian Reservation; and that portion of Sanders County lying outside the Kootenai National Forest.

They also apply to all of the Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests, portions of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest within the Southwest Montana Fire Restrictions Area, Bureau of Land Management, Montana DNRC Southwestern Land Office, Montana DNRC Northwestern Land Office in Plains, the Flathead Indian Reservation, Region 2 of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the National Bison Range and Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge.

Update: I just got off the the phone with my Dad (my central Montana source) and he says crews just now got ahold of a 2,500-acre fire north of Great Falls in wheat fields along the Bootlegger Trail. Whew, that's a big fire. And, the Missoulian is reporting nearly 100 acres burning along I-90. [End of article]