Lolo Peak Fire at 6:25 p.m. MDT August 19, 2017 as seen from the Missoula area. Photo by Dick Mangan.
An article by Rob Chaney in the Missoulian quotes a research forester and a Type 1 Incident Commander talking about the characteristics of the wildfires we have been experiencing in recent years. Below is an excerpt:
…“This has been a choice society has made to have fire under the most extreme conditions,” Mark Finney, a research forester for the U.S. Forest Service Fire Sciences Lab, told the Missoula City Club on Monday. “There are alternatives if we choose to use them, instead of waiting for fires to start and then responding to them.”
Greg Poncin, incident commander for both the Lolo Peak and Rice Ridge fires of 2017, added that 12 of the 30 largest fires in the past decade all occurred last year…
Residents of western Montana and northern Idaho can expect to see some relief from the drought and wildfire smoke that have plagued the area for many weeks.
Following a Red Flag Warning that is in effect Wednesday for southwest Montana, precipitation is in the forecast for Thursday night and Friday. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for parts of western Montana.
A Winter Storm Watch for western Montana ends at 12 p.m. Friday, September 15.
The storm system will move into the northern Rockies on Thursday and Friday bringing rain and snow to the region. Some of the higher elevations could receive one to six inches of snow while the lower elevations can expect rain. The Lolo Peak Fire south of Missoula, for example, could get over one-half inch of rain.
Above: Satellite photo of smoke from fires in Western Montana and Northern Idaho, August 22, 2017. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite.
(Originally published at 3:03 p.m. MDT August 22, 2017)
It has been many days since we were able to find a satellite photo free of clouds enough to see smoke from the wildfires in Western Montana and Northern Idaho, but today there were few clouds in the area. This photo from Tuesday afternoon shows less heat (the red dots) than what we were seeing one to two weeks ago.
Above: 3-D map of the Lolo Peak Fire, looking west. The red line was the perimeter at 11 p.m. MDT August 19, 2017. The white line was the perimeter 23 hours earlier.
(Originally published at 8:40 a.m. MDT August 20, 2017.)
The Lolo Peak Fire grew by another 2,800 acres Saturday bringing the total up to 30,765 acres, but some of that increase was the result of burnout or firing operations conducted to tie in the fire edge with barriers or firelines.
In spite of a Red Flag Warning in effect Saturday afternoon firefighters had a pretty good day, conducting firing operations on the northwest, north, and east sides of the fire. Operations Section Chief Mark Goeller said the Highway 12 corridor is looking fairly secure and mopup has started in that area as well as some locations on the east side south of Lolo and west of Florence and Carlson. There is still a great deal of uncontrolled fire edge on the south side of the fire in the higher elevations.
The west wind predicted for Sunday should make a planned firing operation on the west side easier than it would be with winds from other directions.
The red line was the perimeter of the Lolo Peak Fire at 11 p.m. MDT August 19, 2017. The white line was the perimeter 23 hours earlier.
In the video below Mr. Goeller gives an excellent briefing on Saturday’s activities and the plans for Sunday.
The Lolo Peak Fire eight miles southwest of Missoula, Montana roared across an additional 9,000 acres Friday to bring the total burned area to 27,900 acres. Officials closed Highway 12 and evacuated additional locations on the north side of the highway on Sleeman Creek Road and west of Stella Blue. Old Hwy 93 is closed from the intersection of Long Lane in Florence north through Missoula County.
There has been no report of the fire crossing Highway 12.
Strong winds pushed the fire farther to the north and the east from the Mill Creek area towards Travelers Rest. (See the map below.)
Map of the Lolo Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 12:02 a.m. MDT August 19, 2017. The white line was the perimeter 24 hours earlier.
The Lolo Peak fire is being managed as a full suppression fire, but Greg Poncin’s Northern Rockies National Incident Management Team has been describing it as a “long duration wildfire with the potential to reach the corridors of Highway 12 and Highway 93”. Ten structures have burned in the fire.
Lolo Fire at 8:14 p.m. MDT August 18, 2017 as seen from the Missoula area. Photo by Jim Loach.
