Aerial assault quells fire on Big Mountain
<p>A helicopter drops water Tuesday on a fire on Big Mountain. Three helicopters and two single-engine retardant planes were used to fight the fire, dipping water from snow-making ponds at Whitefish Mountain Resort.</p>
Firefighters responded Tuesday afternoon to a fire apparently started by logging equipment on Big Mountain.
Three helicopters dropped buckets of water from nearby Whitefish Lake on the fire. Two single-engine air tankers from Ronan also dumped retardant on the fire
The fire was estimated at one-quarter acre at 6 p.m., and was said to be smoking heavily.
“We’re feeling like we’ve got a good handle on it,” Jeremy Pris of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said at 7 p.m., so the aerial resources were released from the fire.
Later Tuesday night, bulldozers were putting a line around the fire.
Firefighters from the DNRC, Flathead National Forest, Whitefish Fire Department and Big Mountain Fire Department responded to the fire.
A crane that ignited was the cause of the fire, said Big Mountain Fire District Chief Ben Devall, who was not at the scene but had gotten reports from his crew.
The fire was just below the Elk Highlands development and below Whitefish Mountain Resort on the south side of Big Mountain.
Fire crews were staging at Hellroaring Creek on East Lakeshore Drive.