Articles Tagged With: Flathead Valley
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.
The Ahorn Fire, burning 35 air miles West of Augusta on the Lewis and Clark National Forest grew another 1,000 acres to an estimated 5,000 acres Monday, racing through dense, dry forest.
"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.
On the western side of the state, at least 12 new fires popped up on the Bitterroot National Forest Monday -- added to the 17 new starts reported in the valley over the weekend. At least seven fires were burning in the southwest Montana region, the largest of which is the Patengail Creek Fire, burning an estimated 1,100 acres (by Monday afternoon) 10 miles north northeast of Wisdom.
It's an early start to the state's fire season. "It's going to be a long summer," de Golia said.
Extreme fire conditions and the rash of new starts prompted Gov. Brian Schweitzer Monday to declare an emergency in Montana, "which warrants an aggressive initial attack on all wildland fire starts in Montana."
The Department of the Interior announced Thursday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is officially removing the Yellowstone grizzly bear as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act.
The delisting will take effect at the end of April, by which time many Yellowstone grizzlies will have come out of hibernation. "From the point of view of the bears, they won't see much difference," FWS biologist Chris Servheen said during Thursday's news conference.
Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett said in a news release, “The grizzly’s remarkable comeback is the result of years of intensive cooperative recovery efforts between federal and state agencies, conservation groups, and individuals. There is simply no way to overstate what an amazing accomplishment this is..."
When the grizzly was first put on the endangered species list in 1975, scientists estimated there were 136 to 312 bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Today, according the department, the population is more than 500.
UPDATE: Police say they have found the remains of Loic Rogers. Click here for the story, which will be updated as more information is available.
Volunteers and authorities expanded the search Friday for a 3-year-old boy who disappeared from a driveway in Evergreen Wednesday night in Montana's Flathead Valley.
Police have issued an Amber Alert for Loic Rogers, who was last seen near a grandparents' house Wednesday night wearing a red, white and blue jacket, a long-sleeved T-shirt, blue jeans and tan leather boots. His father told authorities he put Loic in the car after dinner and then went back inside to get Loic's little sister and when he returned to the driveway, Loic was gone.
Loic, pictured at right, has blonde hair and blue eyes and is about 3 feet tall and 40 pounds.
Flathead County Sherriff Mike Meehan tells the Associated Press, “We don’t have a lot of leads, but we feel pretty strongly that there probably is foul play involved.”
Sightings or information on Loic's disappearance can be reported at 1-877-AMBERMT. Updates on the alert will be posted at www.montanaamberalert.com
Updated: 10:32 MST With results now in from several more counties, including those rural counties in the center and eastern part of the state, Democrat Jon Tester is maintaining his lead over Incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns.
CBS News is reporting with 253 of 867 precicts reporting:
Tester: 54 percent
Burns: 44 percent
According to the Secretary of State's office, the numbers are more favorable to Tester, but there's no percentage on precincts reporting. According to the SOS office the results look like this:
Tester: 64,254 votes, 56 percent
Burns: 46,561 votes, 40 percent
In Yellowstone County Tester leads by about 700 votes. Billings is often thought of as Montana's hinge city and so far, such a big lead in Yellowstone County means good things for Jon Tester. Naturally, he's leading by a huge margin in Missoula County and he's also winning big in Cascade County and Silver Bow, which is fairly predictable.
Burns is leading in Powell, Golden Valley, Granite, Rosebud, Toole, Carbon and Wheatland Counties.
At the Heritage Inn in Great Falls, where Tester supporters have gathered, the scene was one of confidence. In Billings, where Burns and his supporters are spending the evening, folks were saying it's too early to tell who's going to win. Spokesman Jason Klindt said on TV just a second ago that these early returns are mostly from Western Montana, so aren't as indictative.
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.
Other fires in the state also saw some increased activity Tuesday, but most held and crews even contained a few. South of Dillon the Clark's Canyon Fire, burning east of Clark Canyon Reservoir was declared 100 percent contained Tuesday. Update: But, it was fanned again Wednesday and jumped containment lines. The Gash Creek Fire six miles southeast of Victor is holding at 8,000 acres and crews have it up to 65 percent contained. 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 it is now 25 percent contained.
The Clark's Canyon Fire, burning east of Clark Canyon Reservoir five miles south of Dillon, held at 15,300 acres overnight and crews now have the blaze 80 percent contained, up from 60 percent Saturday. The personnel count is at 157 this morning. Crews will continue to rehabilitate fire roads today in areas where the fire is fully controlled. With no growth expected, the fire should be all wrapped up today or tomorrow.
Elsewhere, the Derby Mountain Fire south of Big Timber stayed put overnight too. The fire has covered 17,500 acres -- after it jumped from 12,000 acres Friday -- and it's 40 percent contained. The Emerald Hills Fire burning near a subdivision of the same name six miles east of Billings has held at 3,836 acres and crews now have the blaze 100 percent contained. And the Gash Creek Fire near Victor has covered 8,000 acres with full containment not expected until the weather turns. Here's the rest of the roundup:
The new fire south of Dillon near Interstate 15 that blew up Wednesday night was mapped at just more than 10,000 acres Thursday evening but crews had it 20 percent contained.
The Dillon Interagency Dispatch Center reports that several cabins and a home were may have been in the fire area Wednesday, but there was no word on if any buildings had been destroyed. It is burning east of Clark Canyon Reservoir about 18 miles south of Dillon. 100 people are working on the fire with the help of two helicopters, a SEAT plane, 10 engines, and 5 dozers. Crews planned to work to get more secure line in on the fire's east and west flanks to keep it away from ranch buildings in the area.
Elsewhere, at least 220 homes are still evacuated east of Billings near now estimated 6,000-acre Emerald Hills fire but the Gash Creek fire near Victor stayed pretty quiet and is now back up to 60 percent contained. The Sun Dog Fire burning 20 miles north of Columbia Falls has grown to 430 acres, but is still at least eight miles from the nearest buildings. The Derby Fire south of Big Timber went from 3,000 to 12,000 Thursday afternoon and the Ulm Peak fire near the Idaho/Montana border grew to nearly 900 acres in high winds Wednesday.
The Red Eagle fire remains quiet, fire information officer Pat McKelvey said Monday. But there’s been quite a bit of smoke rising from the blaze that’s causing residents and visitors concern. The plume is coming from high cirque basins where the fire will remain active until the fuel is completely burned through, all part of the confinement strategy, McKelvey said.
The fire, burning Glacier National Park and Blackfeet Tribal lands, has eaten up an estimated 31,818 acres and remains 75 percent contained. The east and north sides of the fire are beginning to be rehabilitated and some of the 425 people assigned to it will soon be demobilized. The blaze should be fully contained by mid-September.
Elsewhere, the Big Creek fire burning in the Paradise Valley is expected be contained by Tuesday, and the unruly Gash Creek blaze near Victor has spread to 5,200 acres.
The Red Eagle Fire on the eastern side of Glacier National Park had grown to 30,000 acres by Wednesday night. But, fire bosses were still pleased with where the fire was burning. It hasn't jumped containment lines and by Wednesday night, crews had it 70 percent contained.
Meanwhile, on the Big Creek Fire in the Paradise Valley, lines are secure on the southern, eastern and western flanks, but that bugger of a northern side, burning into a wilderness study area, is still growing. There, spot fires and rugged terrain are making containment difficult. But, a cold front that moved in Tuesday helped burn out some green spots to help secure lines there.
The Red Eagle fire burning up Blackfeet Tribal and park lands on the east side of Glacier National Park grew a little Monday in higher temperatures to 27,500 acres -- up about 500 acres from Sunday's mapping. Crews have made “excellent progress” toward their containment objectives, according to the Monday morning report from the fire team, and had line around 65 percent of the fire's perimeter.
The fire is mostly creeping and torching a few individual trees, but fire officials did report some short runs on the southern side of the fire on park lands.
Temperatures this week are forecasted to be above normal. Extreme fire behavior can be expected, according to the fire team, when temperatures exceed 70 degrees, humidity is below 30 percent, and wind speed is stronger than 6 mph.
