Lightning ignites a dozen new fires in Spotted Bear area

Flathead National Forest firefighters on the Spotted Bear Ranger District scrambled Wednesday to contain 12 new fires, several burning within a few miles of the remote ranger station.

“We’re trying to get several of them staffed and work with the resources we have available,” District Ranger Deb Mucklow said. “Most are from a lightning cell that came through this morning.”

Helicopters were hitting several of the blazes with water drops while limited ground crews hiked in to provide initial attack. No smokejumpers were available to assist on the fire outbreak.

Mucklow said fire officials had established the highest priority for two of the fires.

The Trail Creek Fire, covering an estimated eight acres, is just outside the Bob Marshall Wilderness less than five miles northeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station.

The Bear Creek Fire was estimated between two and three acres about six miles southwest of the station.

Mucklow said no structures were immediately threatened.

Firefighters were successful in putting out the Upper Big Bill Fire. It only reached a tenth of an acre on Forest Road 9856 northwest of the Beaver Creek Campground.

Other staffed fires included the Cow Creek Fire several miles east of the ranger station and the Addition Creek Fire several miles southwest of Spotted Bear near the Bear Creek Fire.

Mucklow said the forest needs the public’s help to avoid making a bad situation worse.

“We actually have reports of unauthorized campfires out there,” she said. “The lightning is enough without people having campfires out there and leaving them unattended.”

The vast majority of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex lies within the Flathead National Forest, which is currently on Stage I fire restrictions. The restrictions prohibit the use of backcountry campfires unless they are contained in a wood stove with a fire screen or spark arrester.

The Kootenai National Forest also was struggling to get firefighting resources and was able to order a Type 2 Incident Management Team for the Weigle Fire on Wednesday.

That fire is burning east of the Libby Dam and was estimated at 100 acres by late Wednesday afternoon.

Both smokejumpers and rappellers had been sent in to stop the fire early, but it grew substantially on Wednesday. At least one helicopter and about a dozen firefighters were engaged on the fire that is burning mostly in lodgepole pines.

The Dunn Fire slowed down Wednesday after reaching about 80 acres.

A local Type 3 fire team was fighting the fire. A forest dispatcher said one helicopter was dumping water on the flames with multiple engines and ground crews were on the ground.

Both fires were believed to be lightning-caused and were initially reported Tuesday.

No structures were reported threatened on either fire at press time, nor had there been any reported injuries.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.