Fire burns 20 acres

The Daily Inter Lake

High winds kicked up an idle slash fire Thursday, causing it to burn more than 20 acres on Plum Creek Timber Co. land west of Kalispell.

A forest fire is unusual for early November, but this one can largely be attributed to extremely dry conditions, said Dave Poukish, fire program manager for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Kalispell Unit.

So far this year, Kalispell has received 9.58 inches of precipitation, about 4.5 inches behind the average cumulative precipitation for this time of year.

The slash burn was started to clean up logging debris in the Coon Hollow area about two weeks ago, Poukish said. Plum Creek had been trying to keep the burn from spreading with some bulldozer work.

"They burnt the piles and one particular pile, the wind hit it just right … and she just started cooking right up the hill," Poukish said.

By Thursday afternoon, the fire had been surrounded by bulldozer lines, but it likely will take some snow or rain to completely extinguish it, Poukish said.

He added that hunters should be careful with warming fires because dry conditions are widespread in Northwest Montana.

"There's still potential," he said. "We could be responding to fires into December unless we get some snow."

Responding to the fire on Thursday were a 20-person hand crew from the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes, one Forest Service engine, three state engines, a Plum Creek bulldozer and water tenders from the Smith Valley and South Kalispell fire departments.