Fire roars through area west of Polson

A wildfire that exploded Tuesday evening west of Polson has been sized up at 9,700 acres, but burning activity diminished Wednesday due to weather changes.

Driven by stiff winds on Tuesday, the West Garceau Fire burned into the Irvine Flats area, prompting the evacuation of 15 people from their homes, but they were allowed to return to their homes by Wednesday morning.

 “We got burned out,” said Irvine Flats resident Rex Merritt. “No structures but we lost lots of hay and grass.”

Merritt estimates the fire approached within 100 yards of his house, but Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes firefighters already had used heavy equipment to cut firelines around the house.

“The tribal fire department here did wonders,” he said.

Merritt said it was a frightening experience.

“I’ve been here 77 years and it’s the first time I’ve been told to leave,” he said. Merritt was able to return to his place late Tuesday night.

“Everything was burned out so I could return,” he said Wednesday morning. “We got rain last night and that kind of helped settle any hot spots in the grass.”

Fire information officer Jennifer Costich said most of the fire’s growth occurred Tuesday evening with winds that preceded rainfall that amounted to about .30 of an inch at a weather station at Jette northwest of Polson.

There were efforts to evacuate livestock as well.

“My understanding is that they were successful in getting some livestock out,” Costich said.

The fire, about 12 miles west of Polson, is burning to the north and northwest.

The rain, along with some cloud cover and lower temperatures, changed fire behavior on Wednesday.

“The fire activity appears to be relatively calm, but there are a lot of hot spots in the forest fuels,” Costich said.

The fire is most active on its north and northwest fronts, burning in heavy fuels in Garceau Gulch.

The fire first was reported just before 6 p.m. Monday. It began on private land and then spread to tribal land.

Firefighting efforts on Tuesday included two heavy helicopters, three heavy air tankers and two single-engine air tankers, according to Devlin Lafrombois, a tribal fire information officer.

At its peak, the fire sent a substantial plume of smoke across Flathead Lake and as the fire burned through the night, a line of flame was visible on ridgetops.

A Type II incident command team assumed management of the fire Wednesday, establishing a fire camp at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Polson. Several engines are assigned to the fire, along with skidgens, bulldozers, at least one hand crew, single-engine air tankers and a helicopter.

Meanwhile, the rain put a lid on the Condon Mountain Fire burning four miles northeast of Condon.

“While little smoke and fire activity is likely today due to the wet conditions, the amount of rainfall on the fire is not likely enough to extinguish the fire,” a Wednesday afternoon fire update stated. “Fire managers expect the fire to become more active when warmer and drier conditions return to the area later this week.”

The fire has burned nearly 1,000 acres in steep terrain on the Swan Range, but it has not escaped indirect containment lines. There are a total of 107 people working on the fire.

To view a map of the fire area, go to http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3159.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.