U.S. 89 reopens

Firefighters still working on fire south of Troy

Firefighters have quickly tightened their grip on the Red Eagle fire near St. Mary, but a long, slogging battle against a small fire south of Troy continues.

U.S. 89 outside St. Mary reopened to traffic Friday afternoon after being closed since Saturday by the Red Eagle fire.

Firefighting efforts continue, meanwhile, on the Little Spar Lake fire that started two weeks ago near its namesake lake in the West Cabinet Mountains, about 20 miles south of Troy.

It has grown to just 83 acres, but it has about 200 people working on it - about half the number assigned to the 26,000-acre Red Eagle fire that started one week ago.

Charlie Webster, fire management officer on the Kootenai National Forest, said the relatively large contingent of firefighters is necessary because of the fire's potential.

"It's in a basin. It's in a place now where we can catch it," he said. "It would become a significant, large fire if it got out of that basin. We want to keep it where it is."

Complicating matters is the remoteness of the fire - in rugged terrain about six miles from the nearest road. Far from the luxuries of a well-equipped fire camp, firefighters have established "spike camps" near the fire, where they are staying for hitches lasting several days.

The fire is about 65 percent contained, but it is burning in extremely dry subalpine fir and brush. Whenever a tree torches, Webster said, it sets off "hundreds" of smaller spot fires that firefighters have pounce on quickly.

"It's a lot of work," he said. "It's not a large fire, but it requires a lot of work and a lot of manpower."

There are about 430 people working on the Red Eagle fire, which is now considered 40 percent contained. Fire activity has dropped off over the last few days, largely because the fire already has roared through the heaviest fuels in the immediate area northeast of Glacier's Red Eagle Lake, and also because firefighters and aircraft have successfully impeded the fire on its edges closest to St. Mary.

When the fire blew up last Saturday, an evacuation order was imposed on St. Mary, and Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road and a stretch of U.S. 89 were closed.

The evacuation and the Sun Road closure were lifted Wednesday night, and on Friday the final 10-mile stretch of U.S. 89 was reopened.

Along the 10 miles of highway, guardrail posts were incinerated by the fire and pavement markings were scorched off the asphalt in some places. Montana Department of Transportation crews have worked the last couple of days to remove downed guardrails and repaint markings.

A 35 mph speed limit has been imposed until permanent repairs on the highway have been completed.

Elsewhere in Northwest Montana, a new fire cropped up Friday afternoon north of Montana 28 about two miles east of Dog Lake.

According to Salish-Kootenai tribal dispatch, three helicopters, a single engine air tanker and 10 firefighters were working on the fire, which crossed the highway and was estimated at 4 acres.

The Kootenai National Forest has had 13 fires in the last nine days, all of them stopped at less than an acre.

Fire danger on the Kootenai has so far exceeded conditions on the Flathead National Forest, but the entire Northwest Montana fire protection zone is ranked at a preparedness level 4, one notch below the highest level.

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