East end of Sun Road reopens

Fire continues, but St. Mary restrictions lifted

As firefighters continued to make progress on the Red Eagle fire, an evacuation of St. Mary was lifted and the east end of Going-to-the-Sun Road was reopened Wednesday night.

The evacuation was enacted Saturday when the fire romped toward St. Mary along the southeast shore of St. Mary Lake. Since then it has burned more than 25,000 acres, approaching within less than a mile of St. Mary.

Residents, visitors and business owners were basically run out of town and have been eager to return.

"People want to get back into town, to get their businesses open again," said fire information officer Kim Nelson.

The decision to lift the evacuation was made by the incident management team on the fire along with Glacier National Park, Cascade County and Blackfeet tribal officials.

"They decided it was safe to do," Nelson said.

That's mainly because firefighters have successfully cut hand-lines and dozer breaks on the fire fronts closest to St. Mary. Helicopter water drops and heavy tanker retardant drops have also cooled the fire down substantially on threatening fronts.

Being only 20 percent contained, the fire still has growth potential, particularly to the northeast, away from St. Mary.

"There's certainly expected growth, but we're hoping it won't be significant," Nelson said. "The fire is definitely not out."

Montana 89 was reopened from Babb to St. Mary, but remains closed south of St. Mary, where the fire crossed over eight miles of the highway. A 35 mph speed limit is in effect on the reopened stretch of highway because of heavy firefighting vehicle traffic.

"We're going to have heavy enforcement because there's a lot of emergency vehicles moving through that area," Nelson said.

The St. Mary Visitor Center reopened at 7 a.m. today, while the St. Mary Campground reopens at noon. The Cut Bank campground is expected to reopen when the stretch of Montana 89 south of St. Mary reopens.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.