Crews ready for rising threat
HELENA — Crews dug fire lines and mopped up around homes threatened by wildfires Thursday in preparation for red-flag conditions brought by dry thunderstorms with gusting winds that were moving into western Montana.
The number of people assigned to the two uncontained fires west of the town of Lolo increased to 508, with eight helicopters and 31 fire engines working on keeping the blazes in check after burning more than 9,500 acres, or about 15 square miles, since Sunday.
Montana National Guard troops took over roadblocks on Thursday, relieving weary local authorities and freeing them to focus on other needed areas, fire information officer Mike Cole said.
“They’ve been run ragged trying to take care of evacuations and road closures,” Cole said.
The fires were threatening an estimated 1,200 homes after destroying five on Monday off U.S. 12, an important commercial corridor over the Bitterroot Mountains linking Idaho and Montana.
The roadway has been closed since Monday, with some eastbound traffic diverted to Interstate 90, but large trucks and motor couches unable to travel the detour over the gravel road waited at Lolo Pass for word of the roadway’s reopening.
The edge of the fire was about a mile away from the nearest homes on Sleeman Gulch, and firefighters were working on protecting those homes and preventing the fire from jumping the gulch.
Crews were creating fire lines as a barrier while the weather remained favorable. Thunderstorms carrying wind gusts up to 50 mph were expected to move into the area, but were expected to bring little precipitation, according to the National Weather Service.
The forecast for erratic winds added unpredictability to which direction the fires might turn.
“Weather’s an amazing factor. You never know what’s going to happen until it happens,” Cole said.
In southern Montana, five miles south of Red Lodge, a national Type 2 incident management team took over firefighting operations for the Rock Creek Fire.
The fire had burned 800 acres by Thursday morning near U.S. 212, forcing the closure of the popular route from Red Lodge to Yellowstone National Park.
The roadway was reopened Thursday afternoon, with a lower speed limit through the fire zone, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.
South of Livingston, a complex of fires burning in and around the Gallatin National Forest had burned a combined 17 square miles and 5 percent contained by Thursday morning.
Pre-evacuation notices have been issued to homeowners in the Tom Miner Basin area, and fire officials have requested additional resources for the 368 people already assigned to the fires.
The Flathead Valley was socked in with smoke Thursday for the first time this summer, and according to the National Weather Service, most of it was drifting in from wild fires in Idaho.
“Throughout Idaho there’s a lot of smoke,” meteorologist Marty Whitmore said Thursday morning. “We were in a westerly [wind] flow earlier this week, but now we are in much more of a southwesterly flow.”
There are five fires in Idaho that have exceed 10,000 acres, including the 108,094-acre Beaver Creek Fire and the 131,258-acre Elk Complex.
In addition, the Lolo Creek Complex near Missoula is contributing plenty of smoke.
The only major fire in Northwest Montana, the Damnation Fire, has covered 4,584 acres, but it is burning deep in the Bob Marshall Wilderness 21 miles southeast of Swan Lake.
The fire grew by 650 acres on Wednesday and has crossed the East Side South Fork Trail near Damnation and Lewis Creeks.
Wilderness users are being redirected from the East Side Trail between Black Bear Cabin and the Woodfir Creek area.
Incoming weather may affect the fire situation, since there is a red flag warning in effect in Western Montana until 3 p.m. today.
A storm system is expected to bring thunderstorms with lightning and gusty, erratic winds that will linger throughout the day today.