Fires crop up despite burning ban

Somers-Lakeside, Bigfork, West Valley and Whitefish fire departments were called out to five grass fires or illegal burns on Saturday and Sunday. 

Open burning is banned during September in Flathead County. Outdoor burning will be allowed starting Oct. 1.

Columbia Falls Police were called in to mediate an apparent road rage incident on U.S. 2. One driver alleged another vehicle tried to run him off the road and a driver “was also yelling and cussing.”

A friendly stray dog “with a smashed face like a pug” that was hanging around 12th Street West was returned to its owner.

A bicyclist on 12th Avenue West flagged down police to say a vehicle with Oregon license plates almost hit him.

A bar patron called Whitefish Police early Sunday morning to complain that bouncers at a downtown bar had thrown him out onto the pavement. The caller was told to contact police later in the morning when he was sober.

Guests from a wedding were reported fighting Saturday on Wisconsin Avenue.

A motorcyclist on East Third Street reported someone ran into his cycle and knocked it into a tree while it was parked outside a cafe.