Firefighters working on Avalanche Wildland Fire

Firefighters spent Sunday working to suppress the 25-acre Avalanche Wildland Fire burning on Mount Brown in Glacier National Park.

Reported to authorities Saturday afternoon, the wildfire is located near Avalanche Lake and the popular Avalanche Lake Trail will remain closed from the campground to the lake until further notice.

No other trails have been closed because of the fire, park officials said.

Two U.S. Forest Service helicopters and a contract helicopter are being used to drop water on the fire and for aerial observation.

Twenty six firefighters and eight smoke jumpers also are working to suppress the fire. They are from Glacier National Park, Flathead National Forest and Kootenai National Forest.

Firefighters are working in rugged terrain and windy conditions limited the use of some aerial operations, but the fire had not shown much growth as of Sunday evening, Glacier National Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said.

“We have crews on the ground and aerial resources all working together to suppress the fire,” Germann said.

She added that smoke from the fire may be visible from other areas in the park and even down in the valley, though there should be no other impact.

It is suspected that lighting sparked the Avalanche Wildland Fire and that it smoldered for as long as two weeks before breaking out and growing to 25 acres on Saturday.

Smoke from the fire was reported at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Rangers located the fire and quickly evacuated people from the Avalanche Lake Trail.