Another record scorcher

Temps, lightning keep the heat on in the Flathead

The Daily Inter Lake

The temperature in Kalispell soared to a record high Saturday, and firefighters pounced on new lightning starts across the Flathead Valley.

The National Weather Service reported that the temperature reached 98 degrees Saturday at Glacier Park International Airport. The old record for July 14 was 97 degrees, set in 1930.

Forecasters call for at least five more days of temperatures in the 90s.

The most substantial fire emerged on Crane Mountain south of Bigfork, putting up black smoke visible from Flathead Lake. Two helicopters and at least a couple of crews worked the fire, said Ema Braunberger, information officer with the Flathead forest.

By Sunday, crews had the fire handled at about 3 acres, Braunberger said.

Firefighters were working on two fires on the Tally Lake Ranger District, one in the Bill Creek drainage and the other in the Taylor Creek.

"They are real close to each other, so we are sharing resources on them," Braunberger said. "We have two helicopters working on both."

There was a Sunday afternoon patrol flight to detect any other starts from recent lightning.

"They spotted no new fires," Braunberger said. "We had them check out lightning strikes that we had and there were was no activity, so we are pretty good for today."