Tag: Montana

The Prisoner Lake Fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in western Montana is being managed for suppression; the fire was reported on July 30 on the Spotted Bear Ranger District. Natural rock barriers have helped contain the spread of the fire, which is estimated at 3333 acres. A number of spots outside the main perimeter were detected by aerial recon on Thursday in the head of Brownstone Creek. A crew of 8 firefighters is working on the half-acre spot fires and mopping up.
The fire’s about 25 miles east of Condon. Trails in the area have been closed for public safety. Closed trails on the Flathead National Forest are: Trail #138 Molly Creek Trail, from the junction with the White River Trail #112 to White River Pass; Trail #380 South Fork of White River, from the junction with Trail #138 to its end; and Trail #626 Haystack Mountain, from the junction with Trail #138 to Haystack Mountain. Closed trails on the Lewis and Clark National Forest: Trail #211 Indian Creek, from White River Pass to the junction with Trail #203, West Fork of the South Fork Sun River.

An area closure has been issued for the areas around the Elbow Pass Complex to the south and east of the Prisoner Lake Fire.

The Goblin Gulch Fire is southwest of Monarch, Montana, on the Belt Creek Ranger District of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Reported on July 30 by a military aircraft, the fire was probably caused by lightning. Firefighters worked yesterday on scouting adequate safety zones and helicopter landing zones. Crews cleared a spot for helicopters to land closer to the fire, and air resources checked on numerous spot fires on the west side of the fire.

This fire is expected to be active for a long time because of the extreme terrain and concerns for firefighter safety. The fire’s inciweb page says “Firefighter safety will not be compromised in order to suppress this wildfire.”
It’s 5 percent contained at 283 acres, and the terrain is extremely steep with a heavy timber canopy of mixed conifers. Crews have reported surface fire with individual tree torching. Work on the fire is expected to be slow. “The terrain this fire is in is really extreme,” public information officer Erin Fryer told the Great Falls Tribune. “It’s about straight up and down and very rocky. It’s been real difficult to even get firefighters in on this fire. We have about 50 firefighters on the site right now, but in terrain like that, it’s hard to get them in and out — hard and slow.”

Police drove the streets of the town of Lame Deer last night, using loudspeakers to warn residents to grab their belongings and get out of town. An Associated Press story in the Washington Post reported that buses were lined up Thursday night to evacuate the entire population of 2,000 from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation community.

Desi Small-Rodriguez with the tribe’s disaster and emergency services department said the Chalky Fire threatened to burn Lame Deer, the seat of the southeastern Montana reservation. The fire had burned two homes, and then winds pushed the fire straight toward town. Carol Raymond, Rosebud County’s head of disaster and emergency services, had driven from Forsyth to assess the situation. “I figured the whole town of Lame Deer would go up in flames,” she said.

This is the second major fire to burn on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation this year. The Ash Creek Fire in June burned 18 homes, forced evacuations, and resulted in $20,000 of damage to tribal property. The Chalky Fire is the largest in the Rosebud Complex, which includes six active fires. Crews have made good progress on the fires burning on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, and officials today lifted evacuation notices and re-opened the roads closed by fire activity. “We got some precip on the fire this morning and that really helped,” said LaDawn Saxton, information officer with BIA Northern Cheyenne Fire and Aviation.