Fire burning far away in wilderness area

Flathead Valley residents have recently been able to see smoke columns from a wildfire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness that is a lot farther away than it appears.

The Red Shale Fire is near the eastern edge of the wilderness about two miles northwest of the Gates Park area on the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

It was detected July 18 and had grown to 2,351 acres by Tuesday evening. On Monday evening, it put up a wide smoke column that appeared to be just over the Swan Mountain Range east of Bigfork.

The fire is in heavy downed and standing dead timber as well as pockets of thickly regenerating lodgepole pine from the 1988 Gates Park Fire. It is being allowed to burn for wilderness resource benefits.

The fire, believed to have been sparked by lightning, is actively growing every day.

It is burning in the upper Red Shale Creek drainage west of the North Fork Sun River.

Meanwhile on the Flathead National Forest, the official fire danger was raised to “high” on Tuesday afternoon. When there is high fire danger, fires can start easily and unattended campfires and brush fires are likely to escape.