Careless fires are keeping crews busy

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

Fire crews have been responding to a rash of careless fires, most significantly a campfire that led to a four-acre burn on the Spotted Bear Ranger District earlier this week.

Flathead National Forest law enforcement determined that Monday s Jungle Creek fire was caused by an abandoned campfire along the South Fork Flathead River.

An investigation is under way to determine who was responsible for the illegal campfire. Stage 1 fire restrictions that are in effect across Northwest Montana prohibit campfires except in developed campgrounds.

Anyone with information about the campfire is urged to call the Forest Service law enforcement office at 387-3800.

On Thursday, firefighters chased down more new fire starts, including at least two that were debris fires.

Creston Fire Chief Gary Mahugh said one was on Five Deer Lane near Echo Lake.

The individual was doing light clearing around his place and was burning brush, Mahugh said. He was advised to put it out, that burning is illegal at this time and very dangerous. This was somebody who had moved here in just the last couple of months from out of state. I suppose it s new to him, but ignorance is not an excuse.

The Ferndale Fire Department reportedly responded to another debris burn in the Ferndale area.

In the last week, there has been several responses to illegal debris burns throughout the county, Mahugh said.

Meanwhile, initial-attack firefighters responded Thursday to at least six new lightning fires around the Flathead and at least one on the Kootenai National Forest.

There were 25 lightning starts across Northwest Montana on Wednesday, but most of those were put out.

The largest is the 15-acre Quartz-Ransom fire about 6 miles northwest of Libby.

Charlie Webster, the Kootenai Forest s fire management officer, said two 20-person crews and a helicopter continued to work on that fire Thursday.

Webster was concerned about a red-flag weather warning issued for the region that projected high winds and more lightning Thursday night.

With our fuels being as dry as they are, there s a lot of potential for new starts, he said.

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