Crews battle blazes on the Kootenai, Flathead

Two new wildfires Sunday added more than 200 acres to the 600 acres already burning out of control in Northwestern Montana since Saturday afternoon, forest officials said.

The Camp 32 fire - located on the east side of Lake Koocanusa in the Pinkham Creek Drainage above Camp 32 - was first reported at midday Sunday as a 20-acre blaze. By late afternoon, the fire had consumed more than 200 acres.

Emily Enger, a dispatch clerk at the Kootenai National Forest, said that two helicopters, two heavy air tankers and three single-engine air tankers had been sent to the scene.

"At this time, we have lost one structure there, two others are currently surrounded by fire and several others are threatened," Enger said, Sunday night, declining to say whether the structures were residential.

"We have ordered seven additional firefighting crews and they'll be coming from out of the area."

Several evacuations were carried out in the Pinkham Creek area.

The initial fire response team was made up of 35 firefighters from the Kootenai National Forest, according to Dan Rose, fire and fuels planner for the Kootenai. No smokejumpers have been called.

A new fire was spotted late Sunday evening in the wilderness nine miles south of Black Bear cabin along the South Fork of the Flathead River. Denise Germann, public affairs officer for Flathead National Forest, said that the fire is suspected to be "human-caused." The blaze was initially reported to be less than an acre.

Both of Saturday's fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness continued to burn Sunday, with a 10-person interagency fire team assisting Flathead National Forest personnel in managing the blazes.

The Kelly Point Fire, which is located 20 miles south of Spotted Bear and a mile north of Black Bear cabin, is estimated to be 500 acres. This is an increase of 200 acres over the previous 24 hours. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The Limestone Peak Fire, which is burning in a remote wilderness 20 miles east of Spotted Bear, is thought to have been caused by lightning. In the past day, the fire has grown from 10 to 100 acres.

"To make best use of fire fighting resources, fire managers will concentrate on using natural barriers, like rocky outcrops and areas that have previously burned, to confine and contain the two fires," Germann said.

For public safety, three trails have been closed: The Silvertip Creek Trail #89, the East Side South Fork Trail #80 and the West Side South Fork Trail #263.

The U.S. Weather Service in Missoula said that some of the smoke visible Sunday in the Flathead may have come from a fire burning on the Idaho-Washington border.

For information related to trail closures on the Spotted Bear District call 758-5376. For more information related to fire activity on the Flathead National Forest contact 758-5208 or visit www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead.