Fire burns 33 acres

The Daily Inter Lake

Flames licked across another 20 acres before crews got a dozer line and water hose completely around a wildfire burning north of Rogers Lake Sunday.

By late afternoon, the fire stood at 33 acres, compared with the 13 acres it measured late Saturday afternoon. When first reported about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, it was burning two or three acres about seven miles west of Kila.

Despite a gusty night - 25 mph winds were predicted - high humidity and a light rain overnight helped firefighting efforts and limited the fire's growth to 25 acres by early Sunday afternoon.

Dan Cassidy, safety officer on the fire for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said early Sunday afternoon that crews had a dozer line around the whole fire and were nearly finished laying hose. By early evening the hose line was in place, and crews were dousing the fire, the Kalispell Interagency Dispatch Center reported.

Incident commander on the fire for the department is Bill Glaspey.

A 20-person hand crew from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Ronan was on the fire, along with three DNRC engines, a water tender from the Marion Fire Department and a sawyer crew from the Flathead National Forest. Two contractors were released Saturday.For more of this story, see the print edition of Monday's Inter Lake.