Weather kept fires in check
The Daily Inter Lake
Low temperatures and high humidity kept area fires from spreading this weekend.
"The weather has been keeping fire activity to a minimum," said Cecile Stelter, a fire information officer for the blazes in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
In fact, crews mostly patrolled fires during the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Chippy Creek Fire main camp near Marion is scheduled to shut down today, and two Type 3 incident teams will take over. One will be in Marion and the other in Plains. The size of the fire crews dwindled dramatically during the weekend.
The fire - at 99,090 acres -is 100 percent contained.
Most of the firefighting for Chippy Creek is patrolling and mop-up, said fire information officer Vickie Guthrie.
Rehabilitation efforts continued on the fire's western and southern edges. Smoke still is expected from dry, unburned fuel catching fire within the Chippy Creek perimeter.
Although evacuated residents have been allowed to return to the area, the roads north of the fire and south of U.S. 2 remain closed to the public.
Forest roads within the actual fire area are closed.
Meanwhile, the Skyland Fire just southeast of Glacier National Park remains steady at 45,760 acres, and is 75 percent contained. Speed restrictions remain in effect for U.S. 2 between Glacier National Park and the fire area.
The Conger Fire - 20 miles north of Ovando - grew slightly Sunday, from 22,660 acres to 22,700 acres, and still is at zero containment. A few short runs of fire occurred. But a helicopter doing bucket drops stopped those runs. The fire did not grow during the weekend.
The Railley Mountain Fire - 13 miles northeast of the Seeley Lake Ranger Station - stayed at 20,669 acres, with zero containment.
The Corporal Fire - three miles southeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station - also remained stable Sunday at 12,013 acres, with 14 percent containment.
The Felix Creek Fire east of Hungry Horse Reservoir remained stable at 330 acres and zero containment. Forest Roads 1631 and 5309 remain closed.