Storm clears out smoke, slows fire
Cindy Deist looks at a fallen tree Tuesday after it landed on her roof and deck at 79 West Evergreen Drive. The tree toppled during a storm that hit the Flathead Valley at about 2 p.m. “It sounded like a tornado,” said Deist, who was ironing her clothes inside when the tree was uprooted. Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
The Daily Inter Lake
A wave of wind and rain hit the Flathead Valley on Tuesday afternoon, moving on to slow down a fire that's been actively burning in the Great Bear Wilderness about 10 miles northeast of Hungry Horse.
The Triangle Fire is one of five "wildland fire-use" burns that are active in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
Most of the others are relatively small, but on Monday the Triangle Fire was whipped up by high winds, growing to an estimated 270 acres, putting off a large smoke column and prompting some suppression efforts.
"Last night is when we started putting water drops on it to prevent movement to the east," Flathead National Forest information officer Denise Germann said Tuesday. "We don't want it burning down the Great Bear Creek drainage."
The fire is burning at high elevation, with rocky barriers expected to curb its growth on other fronts. The fire has prompted an area closure that includes the closure of the Great Bear Creek Trail No. 328.
"Fire use" burns are intended to provide resource benefits in some areas, particularly in wilderness areas where logging is prohibited.
"Fire-use fires are an opportunity for fire to play its natural role in the ecosystem," said Jimmy DeHerrera, Hungry Horse district ranger. "We will continue to manage this fire as a fire-use fire to obtain resource benefits that only evolve from fire on the landscape. Any values at risk will be determined and if the fire poses undue risk, then additional management activities will be implemented."
In some cases these fires are not left entirely unmanaged, with firefighting efforts aimed at directing or delaying the spread of fire on certain fronts.
A midafternoon storm swept over the area on Tuesday, grounding two heavy helicopters that have been working on the fire but also delivering a wetting rain, Germann said.
The fire was detected Aug. 10 and was started by a lightning strike.
The Cardinal Peak Fire has burned an estimated 100 acres roughly 13 miles east of Summit Lake in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, with smoke visible from the Seeley Lake area.
The Shale Mountain Fire is about five miles northeast of Big Prairie in the Bob Marshall, and has burned less than an acre.
The Wildrose Fire has burned about 10 acres two miles southwest of the Three Forks area in the Great Bear Wilderness.
The Jumbo Point Fire is about 25 miles east of Summit Lake Overlook in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and has burned less than an acre.
On Monday night, northerly winds carried a thick pall of smoke into the Flathead Valley from scattered fires in southwest Montana, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula.
The smoke was dispersed in the afternoon by the storm, which was expected to bring lightning and lower temperatures to the valley. The forecast calls for highs only in the mid-60s today and Thursday.
These temperatures follow back-to-back days of sweltering heat: On Sunday and Monday the thermometer hit 99 degrees, setting high-temperature records for both days.
Tuesday afternoon's storm caused a few trees to topple, but damage was minimal.