Crews pounce on blazes
Woody Carr, left, and Drew Hebard cut line Wednesday on the Reid Creek Fire near Star Meadows. The blaze, which had grown to about an acre by Wednesday afternoon, was one of several small fires started by lightning Tuesday night. Chris Jordan/Daily Inter Lake
By JIM MANN
The Daily Inter Lake
Lightning sparks 25 small fires
Fire crews scrambled to chase down lightning fires Wednesday across Northwest Montana, and they ve been successful with the help of cloud cover and lower temperatures.
The region was peppered with lightning Tuesday night, from the Kootenai National Forest to the eastern fringes of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex.
Before nightfall Tuesday there were several fire reports and by noon Wednesday there were officially 25 confirmed starts in the Northwest Montana fire protection zone.
But they are all very small and initial attack has been very successful, said Denise Germann, public information officer for the Flathead National Forest.
The largest fire to emerge was on the Kootenai National Forest about 6 miles northwest of Libby, said Charlie Webster, the Kootenai s fire management officer.
By late afternoon, that fire had grown to about 15 acres.
It has quite a bit of potential but we are hitting it really hard, Webster said. It s low on a slope and it s in heavy fuels.
The Kootenai had at least six other fires staffed by firefighters by midafternoon.
We ve had the public calling them in, we ve had lookouts calling them in and air patrols spotting them, Webster said.
Lightning holdover fires could easily emerge in the next few days.
We will be picking up more, Webster said.
There was a cluster of at least eight fire starts on the Stillwater State Forest north of Whitefish and reports of at least two new fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and several in Glacier National Park.
The largest fire in the Flathead Valley was a four-acre fire in the Ferndale area about 3 miles east of Loon Lake.
Most of the fires are on patrol or they have been mopped up, Germann said.
Meanwhile, the Red Eagle Fire calmed down considerably Wednesday compared to the run it took Tuesday into Glacier National Park s interior.
The fire is still estimated at 28,500 acres, with about 15,000 acres on Blackfeet Tribal Trust lands and about 13,500 acres in Glacier Park.
The fire is considered 65 percent contained, with about 700 people assigned to it.
Meanwhile, the rash of lightning, along with high winds, caused power outages affecting about 4,500 Flathead Electric Cooperative customers, mostly in the West Glacier, Bigfork and Ferndale areas.
Local fire departments and other rescue groups were busy with problems from the storm.
Dispatchers logged about 20 calls about fallen power lines and trees in about two hours.
Among them was a report of a tree that fell on a travel trailer at Echo Cabin Loop, trapping people inside. They were freed without injuries.
Fiery power lines were reported on the Swan highway and Sherman Lane.
Trees fell on roads and power lines at the Echo Lake Marina, on Hemler Creek Road, Echo Lake Road, Capistrano Drive, Foothills Road, U.S. 2, Jensen Road, Aero Lane, and West Cottonwood Drive. A tree and a power line draped themselves across South Nucleus in Columbia Falls.
Two power poles caught fire on 12th Avenue West in Columbia Falls and a wheat field ignited on Trapp Road.
The public is urged to report smoke sightings in the Flathead Valley and surrounding forest lands by calling 758-5260.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.