New fire reaches 330 acres

The Daily Inter Lake

Firefighters are battling a new fire on the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir in the Great Bear Wilderness.

The Felix Creek Fire, discovered Tuesday, is now at 330 acres, said Hungry Horse Ranger District fire information officer Paula Peterson.

Crews on the wilderness fire "continue to monitor and assess the natural barriers for confinement operations," Peterson said.

Six firefighters worked the fire Friday as the fire received a wetting rain from a passing storm front.

Forest Service roads 1631 and 5309 will be closed as long as the fire presents a safety concern for people traveling on them.

Sparked by a July 18 lightning strike, the fire has been "skunking around since then," Peterson said.

The Corporal Fire, located three miles southeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station, grew to 12,013 acres by Friday.

That fire is 14 percent contained.

A seven-person crew worked on the fire's western edge Friday as the fire burned into an area already torched in the Dean Creek Fire of 2005.

"That's our main concern, keeping the fire going east and not toward the Spotted Bear compound here," said Sue Johnson, the fire's situation unit leader.

Lower temperatures and overcast skies helped keep the fire down.

"But we have not seen any precipitation," Johnson said Friday evening.

The weather is expected to remain cool throughout much of today, but winds are also expected to pick up.

"This weather creates low fire activity," said Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Denise Germann. "We're glad to see some cooler temperatures and moisture."

However, the area is still under Stage Two fire restrictions and the fire danger remains high, she said.

"It's still dry out there, so the potential for fires still exists," Germann said.

The Railley Mountain Fire, located 13 miles northeast of the Seeley Lake Ranger Station, stayed at 20,669 acres Friday.

"It's showing no increase in the last day or two," Johnson said.

That fire is mostly active on the northern perimeter, near Young, Babcock and Cabin creeks.

The Conger Creek Fire, about 20 miles north of Ovando, was estimated at 22,100 acres. It continued to burn near the Falls Creek drainage Friday.